Chile's Bloden Wedd represents another in the ever increasing number of South American metal bands finally getting their music out to the rest of the world. There's a lot happening in countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile as far as new metal bands but aside from the cream of the crop, those of us in the other continents of the world don't get to hear many of them. Bloden Wedd (Celtic for "Gods Of The Sunrise") has existed since 1995 and released their first effort, Time Goes On in 1998. Raging Planet followed in 2001 and they list Rhapsody, Children Of Bodom and Sonata Arctica among the list of bands that they have opened for. Eye of Horus is the third release (second full length) from Bloden Wedd and although a vast improvement over previous efforts, their brand of speedy, melodic Helloween / Iron Maiden influenced power metal really doesn't offer anything new and is definitely one that would only appeal to the serious fans of the genre.

Lone Runner leads off the album and is also the first single. The video for this track is available on the band's website. With a nod to old school Helloween (Walls Of Jericho era), this one also has some Scanner-like speed and craziness. Guitarist and lead vocalist Dan Elbelman does a great job with his Michael Kiske / Bruce Dickinson style power metal wail on this album and the use of layered vocals for the chorus sections to most of the songs certainly add lots of color. More epic power metal styles are explored with tracks like Firebird, 7th Gate, Daughter Of The Minotaur and the seven minute title track. Daughter Of The Minotaur veers off into a more powerful and epic Gamma Ray style especially with the vocals whereas Eye Of Horus undergoes many changes in tempo with execellent lead guitar passages. Still Believe is the first track to stray from the "formula" with it's heavy yet dramatic touch and a memorable chorus that is surely one of the standouts on the album. Through Heaven's Eyes is another track to feature both solid and melodic lead guitar work as well as a very solid sounding chorus. The older Helloween speediness is revisited for their metal anthem Power Metal Pride. Sounding a little more like Manowar, this one has insanely fast drumming and speedy riffs. Down The Road is rather generic speedy power metal with Edguy / Avantasia operatic vocal segments and the album ends with a rather odd sounding Untold Words. With a Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) snarl, lead vocalist Dan Elbelman mixes in higher octave vocals yielding very unpleasant results. The higher octave vocal lines are decent and the chorus is solid but the odd mixing of vocal styles kills this one right out of the gate.

Fans of bands like Freedom Call, Helloween, Angra, Gamma Ray and Avian will appreciate the style of metal that Bloden Wedd plays and even though this is their best effort to date, there is still much more work to be done. The overall production is bad with the drums sounding thin and distant in the mix with the bass guitar missing in action most of the time. The best part of this band is the very solid and strong vocals of Dan Elbelman. With an Edu Falaschi (Angra) / Andre Matos (Ex-Angra, Shaaman) type of voice, he can really wail with lots of power and melody. There are lots of busy riffing styles, fills and instrumental interludes and the chorus sections are very good on most tracks but it's everything else that seems to be lacking. They need to work more on song writing and melodic structure as they certainly have the vocalist needed for a quality melodic power metal band. There are moments where everything comes together quite nicely it's just that there aren't enough of them. With lots of potential especially in the all important lead vocalist slot, Bloden Wedd need to step it up a notch or else they will find themselves stuck at the starting gate with the countless others that sound just like them....another melodic power metal CD that's going to be added to the big dusty pile.....