TRICK OR TREAT is an Italian Power Metal band that originally formed as a HELLOWEEN Tribute act. Creepy Symphony is their seventh full-length album. It was released on April 1st, 2022, via Scarlet Records. Following the fairly standard power metal theory and structure, this is a very typical album for the genre. There is power metal, power ballad and epic finale. In other words, everything you love about this style of music. The disc opens with the song "Trick Or Treat." There is a creepy keyboard intro and eerie vocals singing a variation of the childhood song from Halloween night. Crows and church bells round out the horror movie feeling. This really does a good job for setting the mood for the rest of the record.

Next is the title track, "Creepy Symphony." In pure power metal form, the guitars use a dual attack on the riff. The vocals are clean and tend towards bits of higher pitches and major drama, especially with the layered backing vocals added. The rhythm is frenetic and somehow joyous, in spite of the dreary lyrics. The HELLOWEEN influence is all over this song. Early HELLOWEEN at that. There is the humor embedded in the whole thing that makes this a fun album. Moving down to "Crazy," we get a song that is heavy on the higher end of the guitar necks. Piano adds some more into this musical theory, making sure the song is not too dark, despite the fact something is driving the protagonist out of their mind. This is followed by "Pater Pan Syndrome (Keep Alive)." Slightly darker in tone at the start, it ends up being the power ballad on the disc.

"Queen Of Likes" has a nice, heavy riff. The vocals are still running clean and fast for the most part, shifting back and forth between lower and higher registers without jumping into falsetto too often. The rhythm is again really solid, as they have been for this entire record. The album closes with the epic "The Power Of Grayskull," a 12-minute finale that is meant to wrap the story and make sure the hero gets home from the journey having learned their life lesson. Opening with bombastic, epic keyboard tones, the guitar riff moves in and proceeds to take over. The song builds and fades, ebbs and flows. There are progressive metal movements and power metal themes. This is the way a power metal album should ends.

This record is original, but owes a lot of the overall sound to early power metal influences. This record could almost be the follow-up to Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Part II. Thematically, it could fit, but the vocals are different than Michael Kiske would handle them. It is fairly easy to see how this band started as a HELLOWEEN tribute. They do have their own sound and I do not want to make it sound like they are a clone or copycat.

TRICK OR TREAT is a really good band and they write interesting, compelling music. It is killer power metal and can easily stand on its' own. They have their own niche and fill it very well. I first thought this album was going to be a bit too cheesy for my taste. I'm happy to report that there is some cheesy on the disc, but it is not too much. Actually, they struck a really good balance between funny lyrics and seriously good musicianship. I am pleasantly surprised.