TIGERSCLAW began turning heads in 2017 with their debut album "Princess of the Dark". The following year brought the Symphonic Power Metal band back into the studio for their follow-up, "Force of Destiny". There are fifteen tracks making this album an accomplishment within itself. With over an hour of music, they want to keep your attention for a long span. Can they accomplish what they have set out to conquer? Let us proceed to find out.

The first song to catch my attention is "Empire of Forgotten Souls". The ballad resembles EVANESCENCE of today, not old. Elena's vocals fall beautifully between the melodies of the guitars, while the drums keep the song floating like a cloud. I am not dismissing the previous four tracks either. The title track "Force of Destiny" and "Speed of Light," all have their own uniqueness. But I am never a fan of a song sharing the title of the band either. "Tigersclaw" is not a horrible track, it just seems to hit me differently. I always find myself asking "Why?" but I cannot define a band, only its music can.

"Lightyears Away" comes in with a beautifully orchestrated intro. It pulls you into another world before Elena's operatic vocals drag you further in as the music soothes you. They bring together this theatric opera with smooth transitions from verse to chorus. "Still of the Night" slows the pace back down from the frantic opus. Elena has become a siren luring your ship into the rocks. This slow melody gives off a certain darkness all on its own. You can feel the climax start to build inside the story she is trying to tell but It is a much needed break within such a very long album. The melodies are very well matched to the soft vocal tones, but Elena shows her talent very well throughout.  "The Fallen Queen" loses me a bit with its crazy transitions. The intro has me hoping for a different structure within the song. It isn't a terribly horrible song, I just feel the transitions are very off and do not fit the vocals very well. The underlying vocals do not match very well and the music takes too much of a dramatic turn from verse to chorus.

"Feel the Night" and "For Kingdom's Pride" both feel like the same song. I could not tell the two apart to be honest. This is where the album falls apart for me. Most listeners lose interest during the middle or latter on such long playtime. This is where they lost me. The songs become the same sound, the same melodies, and seem to lack a diverse feeling. The final five tracks have the same feeling of repetition to the album. There is a brink of hope on the thirteenth track "Angel's Don't Cry". It teases what could have been a great song, but they simply break away from what makes you interested. If they could have kept going, this song would have been a highlight during a horrible ending.

"Force of Destiny" is a very long album that simply loses you toward the end. The start of the album keeps me interested just long enough to watch the beauty be destroyed. I applaud the effort of this fifteen track monster. There are not many bands who would even attempt to produce such a long album. The band has a lot of talent, but it becomes a repetitive sound after listening for so long. There are some great songs worth adding to your playlist, but you will need the patience of a monk to make it through all the tracks more than once.