Viathyn hail from Canada with their second album Cynosure and this is an album that proves to the very core what Progressive Power Metal is all about! There are lots of complex riffs, awesome vocals and great songwriting on show with this album.

Ageless Stranger introduces us to the album, with 7 minutes of full on metal! This is a good track with a lot going on, a multitude of different riffs that flow really well. The vocals are well done with strong harmonies and good lyrics too. "The Coachman" has a really folky sound to it at points, with some great melodies throughout and some chunkier riffs fattening the sound out too.

This album has a lot of diversity within the sphere of its progressive style. Songs have plenty of movements, not clinging desperately to formulas or "standard" song structuring. This is good, with songs like "Shadows In Our Wake" which has a neoclassical bridge before slamming into more heavy riffs. In contrast to the more energetic metal moments, "Time Will Take Us All" offers us some acoustic guitars and some expressive and emotive vocals, with an intriguing atmosphere built throughout before the song picks up in heaviness and power later on.

One of my favourites was "Countess Of Discordia" which begins with an awesome bassline before launching into an awesome example of prog/power songwriting, with mighty guitar harmonies, a thunderous drum performance and some great vocals.

The album closes with title track "Cynosure" and this is also the longest track on the album at nearly 10 minutes long. This doesn't get boring though, it's a track packed full of everything the band has, with symphonic moments meeting powerful riffs and a great rhythm section. The vocals are great once again throughout and there are some great melodies.

The production is exactly what you'd expect from Power Metal, which tends to be pretty demanding on the production side. It's very modern sounding, with lots of pounding drums and some really well done vocals too.

Cynosure is an album with plenty to offer fans of the Progressive Power Metal sound, as VIATHYN have a great talent for making melodies and their songwriting abilities have enabled them to make an album full of long songs without getting boring.