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Artist: Pathfinder |
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When
the word Polish Metal are said you instantly visage the more extreme
Black Metal and Death Metal bands but Poland is more than a haven to the
darker side of metal, there is also an abundance of bands that take
their influence from the Western side of European Metal. One such
band that are about to take the world by storm are Symphonic Power
Metallers Pathfinder. The
band is the brainchild of two men, Arkaduisz E Ruth (bass) and Karol
Mania (guitar), both of whom were brought up with the classical works of
Wagner, Beethoven and the like, and they've taken those influences and
combined them with the modern Power Metal of frantic guitars licks and
head rhythms. The result of which is the mighty package of energy
that is Pathfinder. The
rest of the band consists of Slavomir Belak (keys), Gunsen (guitar),
Simon Kostro (vocals) and guest vocals for this album come courtesy of
opera singer Agata Lejba-Migadaiska. Together they have a sound
that is as grandiose as any you’ll find in the genre today. If
you could fuse the best of Rhapsody with the likes of early Nightwish,
then this is what you’d get. The
album's 14 tracks come in at a massive 70 minutes and get underway in
emphatic style with the intro ‘Deep Into The Darkness
Peering’. From this one opening track you soon get a great feel
for what is to come from the rest of the album. A rich mix of
neoclassical guitars, soar away keyboards, fiery guitars, a monster back
beat and superb orchestration all wrapped up with the superb vocals of
Kostro, and when he duets with Lejba-Migadaiska, the impact is just
stunning. With so many stand out moments on the album I would just like to point out a few of my own personal favourites, tracks like the gigantic ‘To The Island Of Immortal Fire’, the excellent ‘Pathway To The Moon’ and ‘The Lord Of Wolves’ and the intense metal of the title track ‘Beyond The Space, Beyond The Time’. These are just a few of my personal favourites and to single these few out has been difficult because the whole album is a real treat to these ears. The
album also includes
guest appearances from Roberto Tiranti, Matis Kopiainen, Michael
Jeloniek and Bob Kastonis, all household names to fans of the
genre. This alone is surely a sign that you should check them out
and if want to check out the video to 'The Lord Of Wolves' then check
out the bands website www.pathfinder.com
, which will give you a real taster of what the rest of this superb
album and band have to offer you the listener. |
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Tracklisting: 1. Deep Into The Darkness Peering |
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