A new star shines brightly in the sky, and this star is called Nostradameus. This new young band comes out of nowhere with a very good and surprising first release. Did you ever imagined what it would be if you would mix some Stratovarius with some Gamma Ray tunes and sound ? Well, search no more for this merging is now out in the open and ready to strike.

Like I said the main inspiration sources of this new band is Stratovarius, mainly the Vision (no wonder they call themselves Nostradameus :)) album and also some of the older albums (Fourth Dimension, Dreamspace). Armed with deadly guitars, they play fast, deadly fast riffs and solos. Drums are also faster than you can ear and very very powerful, a real pleasure for all your senses. The singer is okay, although he's not as good as the people he drains his inspiration from (Kotipelto and Kai Hansen), and somehow I think it's the band's weakness. But let's not forget this is a first album. I've got the same feeling I had for Heavenly, and this is what I call the second generation of True Metal. The True Metal revival was based on bands draining their inspirations on old tunes from the 80's and the early 90's, bands like Helloween, Iron Maiden,... But now these news bands come out of the crowd and play the music that inspires them, like Stratovarius, Gamma Ray, Edguy or Hammerfall (to mention a few :)). The melodies and chorus line are typically Stratovarius inspired but the music is a bit louder, with more faster riffs "a la" Hammerfall. The singer enjoy singing like Kai Hansen on some tunes, giving a Gamma Ray feeling. Like on track 3 (Out Of This World) or track 7 (Black Fate) where the resemblance with "Land Of The Free" is very obvious, especially on the verse. Also a little surprise at the end of the album, an epic song with Joacim Cans (Hammerfall' singer) for a very good True Metal hymn called One For All & All For One.

So loud and proud these new True Metal heroes arrived on the scene and I think they can make very good impression ! They certainly did attract my attention. In the end it produces a new kind of sound, extremly melodic and I have the feeling that this second generations bands like Nostradameus will bring that more and more in the future ! It might not be very original and Nostradameus didn't invent anything here, but they play with their guts the music they love and do it very well, so long live Heavy Metal ! And don't forget to run at your favorite shop and hope they have this excellent album, at least if you're into True/Power Metal that is. Very good first album.