Band : Axxis
Album title : Utopia
Label : AFM Records GMBH
Distribitor: Rock Inc. - Bertus
Release Date :  31/07/2009
Release : CD

After completing a successful tour with Helloween  and Gamma Ray, Axxis  strikes back with another great studio Album.  Compared to the 2007 release “Doom of Destiny” the musical direction hasn’t changed too much.  So expect some quality melodic Power Metal as well as some classic Hard Rock.  What’s special is that for the first time in their career they recorded a track in German, an a very good track it is.

Production and recording were once again done in their own Soundworx studio, and Dennis Ward did the mixing.

Tracks that are real higlights on this album are amongst others the title track, a really nice uptempo song, as well as the song Last Man On Earth, which starts as a rather dark and brooding song, and has a great chorus.  Father’s Eyes is also a great song, almost a semi-ballad, but just a bit too fast to be a real semi-ballad.  One of the nicest songs to me personally is Heavy Rain, which starts with a great keyboard intro, and has a really impressive chorus.

As a matter of fact there is no filler on this album.  All 10 songs intro excluded are real crackers.
For those lucky enough to lay their hands on the album with the bonus Digipack, which will only be available in a limited edition the bonuses include a special song lasting 13 minutes, and called “20 Years anniversary Song”. On this song appear a lot of guest musicians, e.g. Doro, Andi Deris (Helloween), Schmier (Destruction), Claus Lessman (Bonfire), David Readman (Pink Cream 69/Voodo Circle) to name but a few.

95/100

Erik Morren.