Formed in '98 Wipperfürth (near Cologne), this German act's line-up got completed when vocalist Georg Laudenberg joined a year later. Another year later, the band released a first demo, which was followed by the self-released "Project 47" in 2002. Sounds familiar? Sure, it's the same material you're reading the review of right now! But before Hardebaran and Two Fat Men picked the album up, it was also released in October 2004 by Limited Access Records. In the bio we got, the vocals are described as being full of mutability, covering everything from melancholic passages to aggressive shouts...and you'll hear no negation of me there! The music is said to be Traditional Heavy to Power Metal meets influences from several Metal genres and modern elements, while always steering clear of the 'Nu' edge...a description with which I dó have some problems! You see, it's a funny thing, but to me it soùnds like a late '70s, mostly up-tempo, slightly Progressive, pre-Thrash Doom Metal. In fact, the calmer songs even accentuate that! May have something to do with the recording sound, of course, and my personal opinion is certainly nót meant as a criticism! On the contrary, I feel the quintet (next to Georg there's guitarists Alexander Braikratrs (also vocals) & Christian Pirch, bassist Nicolas Müller, and drummer Pascal Azzolin) has a very refreshing sound, which is gonna find fans among both the broad-minded Thrash and Doom Metal fanatics alike. Then, I guess lovers of the N.W.o.B.H.M are gonna fall for this as well! The bio also tells me the band is currently preparing a new album...which I hope to be able to review in the near future. I mean, these guys are reàlly good, and I'm looking forward to hearing what they've evolved to over the last 3 years! Oh yeah, there's a 9 th (un-announced) fake acoustic bonus track on the album...just wait about 165 seconds after the explosive 'official' closing track with the mysterious title "4...1...".

"Moderate your ratings!" said the editor-in-chief just a couple of days ago, and so these Teutons 'only' get

90/100

Tony.