Cellador - Enter Deception
Metal Blade
Speedy, Technical. Melodic Power Metal
8 songs (44'40)
Release year: 2006
Cellador, Metal Blade
Reviewed by Marty
Surprise of the month
With all the attention now being paid to Dragonforce and their "new" brand of insane and extreme power metal with everything bigger, faster and more technical than ever before, it only seems natural that someone will emerge to challenge them. Out of the most unlikeliest of places, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. comes Cellador, a band whose demo recording was a huge underground success and caught the attention of Brian Slagel from Metal Blade Records who also serves as executive producer for Enter Deception, the band's first full length album. Cellador consists of Bill Hudson and Chris Peterson on guitars, Valentin Rakhmanov on bass, David Dahir on drums and Michael Gremino, vocals. Unlike Dragonforce, Cellador focuses more on the twin guitar attack without the use of keyboards.

You really must be a fan of this sort of speedy and extremely technical power metal as most will absolutely love the first few tracks on this album but with eight of them all sounding pretty much the same, it would be hard for most people to keep their interest in what they are listening to. Almost everything as far as riff styles and vocal styles on this album can be found on the first four Helloween albums especially the first E.P. and Walls Of Jericho but there's the killer melodic sense of Edguy's Vain Glory Opera, Theater Of Salvation era to top it off. Leaving All Behind gets things underway with it's ferocious speed and soaring Michael Kiske style vocals. A Sign Far Beyond gets even wilder and faster with great galloping Falconer style chunky riffs but with the very epic Edguy chorus style. This track has excellent melody and some very solid riff breaks. Never Again fuses speedy Euro-style power metal with the more muscular U.S. brand with solid lead guitar harmonies and a vocal style that sees Michael Gremino drifting from Michael Kiske to Tobias Sammett with even a little Geoff Tate thrown in. Other album highlights for me include Forever Unbound and Wakening which all combine speed, galloping riffs, thematic lead guitar and soaring epic power metal choruses.

Sounding like Helloween on speed, Cellador has a great sense of writing strong and solid riffs and an even greater sense of melody. All of the tracks are solid but the only subtle differences for me are with the vocals. A couple of the tracks fall a bit short with the choruses but it's just a matter of personal taste. I love the mix of both Euro and U.S. power metal and a few wild blast beats thrown in dissolve a couple of tracks into pure chaotic bliss! This is a style that was pioneered by Helloween but imitated by many others. Edguy are prime examples of a band that has taken those obvious influences, embraced them and in turn expanded them even further. What is lacking in originality can be made up for in great sound and solid song writing. That aspect alone distances Cellador from Dragonforce in my books. I have yet to get through an entire Dragonforce album even though I own their last two. After the first few songs, the novelty of the speed and insanity wears off and you realize that the song writing is not really all the spectacular. With Cellador, you get all the speed, technical zaniness and amazing soaring vocals all in a package that also has some quality song writing. A little more variety in song writing styles and not just pure speed would go along way but Enter Deception is impressive as hell for this young new band and especially for a first album. For fans of Dragonforce styled extreme power metal or speedy melodic power metal, this one's a must have!

Killing Songs :
Leaving All Behind, A Sign Far Beyond, Forever Unbound and Wakening
Marty quoted 82 / 100
Ken quoted 85 / 100
Other albums by Cellador that we have reviewed:
Cellador - Leaving All Behind reviewed by Ben and quoted no quote
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