Artist: Space Odyssey
   Title: Tears Of The Sun
   Label: Regain Records

After taking some time out from Time Requiem keyboard maestro Richard Andersson has reacquainted himself with master of the strings Magnus Nilsson. Together they have started working on this the third Space Odyssey album, with a new vocalist in tow in the form of Andromeda’s David Fremberg and completing the line-up Jorg Andrew on drums, the four have turned away from the progressive sounds associated with Time Requiem and put together nine superb melodic hard rock tracks that will shake the very foundations of the melodic rock world.

The album gets off to a splendid start with ‘The Bohemian Werewolf’, a real barnstormer of an opener with Nilsson letting rip from the off, and when Fremberg opens up on vocals it's plain to hear that this is going to be something special.

The album continues its hard rock path with ‘Obsession’, another great track that opens up with Nilsson showing his prowess once more.  This time laying down some heavy bass lines before the immaculate vocals are set free once again.  They really give Coverdale’s Deep Purple era a run for their money with their soulful qualities.

Nilsson is once again is let loose on the monster ‘Miracles In Daylight’, as he just spews out some fantastic riffs before letting rip on the bass for the more heavier tones of ‘Killing The Myth’.  This is very Tony Martin Sabbath-esq with that same heavy deliberate narrative style vocals that are interweaved with the more traditional melodic vocals stylings, which all go to make for a great track.

The tempo is stepped up a little with the excellent ‘Dark Wing Of Universe’, a track where Fremberg really shows what a great vocalist he really is and showcases perfectly how his vocals were made for this genre.

Things return to the heavier end of the spectrum for with one of my favourite tracks off the album the spellbinding ‘The Awakening’.  Another track equal to 'The Awakening' for splendour is the title track ‘Tears Of The Sun’, another heavy bass ridden track that just rocks big time.

But track of the album for me has to be the awesome ‘The Northern Silence’, with a real powerhouse performance by Fremberg on this one, as he takes he mantle of frontman to new levels of brilliance.

The album comes to a all to quick conclusion with the hard rocker ‘Bloodspill’ with Nilsson let loose once again to show his guitar skills once more and with Andersson doing what he does best with some great keyboards mid section.  Although the real star of the album for me is David Fremberg who for me makes this album something quite special. 

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