Listening to a debut album is almost always an enjoyable experience for me, as a music fan and especially as a critic. Ninety-five percent of the time you dive into one without any expectations (the other five percent is reserved for side-projects of established musicians), which is why good debut albums are typically the only releases to earn MR.com’s highly sought after Surprise of the Month award. But a good part of the joy in reviewing debuts is the fact that I have the pleasure of presenting an entirely new band to the masses. And thus, I give you Pathfinder: A Polish symphonic power metal act that absolutely demands the attention from every fan of the genre with their debut album Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time.

From the very beginning of the first proper track The Whisper of Ancient Rocks, many things are evident about Pathfinder’s sound. Mile-a-second lead guitar licks in the vein of DragonForce coupled with the symphonic sensibilities of Rhapsody (of Fire) show both a good range of influences and remarkable musicianship. The vocal melodies throughout the song are interesting and not over-flowery, showing off both noticeable originality and the unique, powerful voice of Szymon Kostro. Thankfully, this level of quality and talent lasts not only throughout this song, but for the entirety of Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time. The album as a whole possesses an average pace that is VERY fast, the blistering tempos carried by ace drummer Kamil Ruth and the twin guitar attack of Karol Mania and Gunsen. Keyboardist Slawomir Belak and bassist Arkadius Ruth share in creating the orchestrations, which are downright fantastic; realistic, powerful, and not overbearing, the compositions here are some of the best ever featured on any debut metal album. The orchestrations are utilized to great effect in every song, and the tracks are just diverse enough to keep things moving smoothly. From the classical style of Pathway to the Moon to the Kamelot-ian All the Mornings of the World and the epic tracks Stardust and Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time, there is hardly a track here that fails to impress. Add in guest appearances from Roberto Tiranti of Labyrinth, Michal Jelonek of Polish thrash band Hunter, Matias Kupiainen of Stratovarius and Bob Katsionis of Firewind, as well as operatic vocals courtesy of guest vocalist Agata Lejba-Migdalska, and you have a recipe that will undoubtedly leave power metal fans everywhere drooling.

Sadly, there ARE a few flaws to be found in Pathfinder’s sound. My main quarrel is with the overly long instrumental sections that the band is fond of incorporating in their songs; most end up sounding dull and stray too far from the main portions of the song in question. Secondly, though the album is overall very well produced, there are a few production issues to be found; some are fairly inoffensive, such as background guitar parts that are buried too quietly in the mix, but others, especially the barely audible lead vocal part in the chorus of Stardust, are too annoying to be ignored. Also, Beyond the Space…, while a highly enjoyable album, isn’t a very original one when considering its individual parts. Though it’s remarkable that multiple styles of power metal are pulled off while still retaining Pathfinder’s signature symphonic sound (the compositions are the most original component of this album), they’re styles that have all been done by several other bands. Finally, I’d love to hear Kostro make greater use of his vocal range on Pathfinder’s next album; he briefly shows off an UNBELIEVABLE falsetto in certain songs, yet most of the time he keeps his voice within a comfortable and unfortunately safe range.

Yet even with these flaws, Pathfinder’s excellence shines through brighter than any musical blemish could possibly dull. With Beyond the Space…, the band displays an incredible sense of melody, a great ability in writing intense, epic orchestrations, a level of talent that’s up to par with the giants of the genre, and production that’s essentially second to none – Pathfinder is, believe it or not, an UNSIGNED band. At over seventy minutes in length, Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time may be a long-winded album, but it’s also one that establishes Pathfinder as the most promising new power metal act today. Power metal fans, buy this and enjoy, simple as that.