I remember way back when Mystic Prophecy won me over with a brilliant cover of Iron Maiden’s Sanctuary. After that, I tried forever to get a hold of some releases of theirs without luck, and I sort of forgot about them until recently when I found both Regressus and Satanic Curses dirt cheap in the local record store. I enjoyed both of them a lot, and was really happy when I got a package from Massacre Records containing Fireangel. For those of you unfamiliar with Mystic Prophecy, they play modernized heavy metal in the vein of ex-member Gus G’s Firewind and Daniel Heiman’s Heed to some extent. In other words hard-hitting catchy heavy metal that’s on a mission to knock your teeth out. After Gus G’s departure I’ve found Mystic Prophecy a little less exciting though, and they bring little change to the scene with Fireangel. If anything, they have dipped a little in quality as the songs are less memorable. But why fix something that isn’t broken?

Let’s face it, Mystic Prophcey will never be a truly incredible heavy metal band. They’re fairly solid at what they do, but will never be great as they don’t take risks and dare to explore territory a little. On the other hand though, led by the powerful vocals of Roberto Dimitri Liapaki and the surging riffs of Markus Pohl and Constantine, they manage to deliver yet another stellar album chock full of headbangable riffs, catchy melodies and rocking solos. These guys are all about keeping it simple, and I like it. The riffs are straightforward yet nice and heavy and the drumming could be described with the same words. What really stands out as the driving force is the brilliant vocal work of Mr. Liapaki. Without him, I fear that Mystic Prophecy would’ve faded into a very generic shadow of what they once were. His thick and strong voice fits the music perfectly, and vocal melodies create some hooks that will demand your attention. He is able to lift stand-out tracks like Father Save Me and To the Devil I Pray all by himself, and make you take notice of the whole musical picture and not only the work he puts forth. Unfortunately there are only 3-4 songs that really sticks out, as the other ones vary from mediocre to good, which is a shame really.

On one hand this album seems rather forced, as it is even less varied than Satanic Curses and not nearly as sprawling. On the other hand however, this is far from bad, as they deliver us solid slices of heavy metal on a silver platter. The only problem, as I mentioned above, is that there are less to grab and really enjoy. The songs that do stick out however, is top drawer, and easily ones to be remembered and songs you’ll keep coming back to because of top notch heavy metal riffs, pounding blasts and great vocal work. Even though this was somewhat disappointing, there are stuff here that could’ve easily be included on Mystic Prophecy’s best material. I will not go as far as to say that some of the songs are the best they have produced, but they do not fall short by much, and even though this may seem like a slump, my faith in a really strong follower is definitely there. Bottom line would be that this is worth a few listens for the few great songs that is on it, but unfortunately, your collection will not suffer from its absence unless you’re a diehard fan.