Band : Ride The Sky

Album title : New Protection

Label : Nuclear Blast Records

Distributor : PIAS

Release date : 17/08/2007

Release : CD

When I tell you that the masterminds behind this Swedish/ German project (well, they're an actual band now) are non less than singer Björn Jansson ( Tears Of Anger , Beyond Twilight , Two Rocks , Snakes In Paradise , backing vocals for Erika ) guitarist Benny Jansson (also Tears Of Anger , Snakecharmer , Racketeer and Johansson Brothers , 3 fusion solo albums, and about 30 credits on other people's recordings) and drummer Uli Kusch ( Masterplan , Helloween , Gamma Ray ), little spaks of joy and anticipation should be lighting up in your eyes. And you would be right indeed to expect greatness from such an alliance, because that is exactly whet you're getting here!

It all started early last year, when Uli and Björn met to exchange musical ideas. When Kusch left Masterplan later in the year, Björn & Benny asked him to play on the upcoming Tears Of Anger album, and impressed with the 4 songs they sent to him, he returned a few songs of his own. The spark for the raging fire that will be brought upon the earth by the release of New Protection , was initiated and kindled.

With the intent of assembling the highest talentual potential, the trio recruited renowned keyboardist Kaspar Dahlqvist ( Dionysus , appeared on albums and toured with Stormwind & Circle II Circle ) and bassist Mathias Garnás (veteran of the Swedish music scene; dabbled in Metal, Pop, Fusion, and is a member of XsavioR ).

Named after the popular Helloween song, the band is somewhat removed from that connection, in that it stands high up in quite another league. On top of the downright steady rhythm section, there's incredibly powerful guitars (with really nice solos to boot) and layered keyboards with recurring Progressive and orchestral, say even Classical, arrangements. There's a nice complexity in the music, and I cannot tear myself from the idea that there somewhat of a concept throughout the album. The song that sparkled that idea, was "Prince Of Darkness" with its deeply dark atmosphere (also added growls – may be Alt Voice distortion, or another voice distortion of some kind). 12 songs with a duration of some 50 minutes (well, I'm told the European limited edition of the album is to contain the bonus track "Make The Spirit Burn" , while the Japanese regular version gets "Trail Of Flame" as the usual bonus) will have lovers of somewhat more complex Power Metal mumble from sheer joy, and I think we can be sure this band sees a real nice future ahead!

For your tasters of Ride The Sky music, surf to myspace.com/ridetheskytheband. I didn't check it out myself yet (simply didn't have the possibility) but I'm sure the band will have posted a couple of the most representative songs (hope "Prince Of Darkness" is there, because that is a true wopper!). You may even find more on the band's official website ridethesky.eu. A video for the album's title track should be aired through all the important music-tv channels shortly.

92/100

Tony.