The second album from this Swedish band, one year after their excellent debut album Words Of Nostradameus. Having loved the first album I really have put my expectations very high for this second opus. Maybe a tad too high.

There have been improvements in musicianship, both guitar and vocals are now more mature that they were in the first album. Song-writing also evolved has Nostradameus is now demonstrating more a music of their own where their debut showed more inspired songs from the big names of True Metal (Stratovarius, Gamma Ray,...). The album starts with a killer song, one of the best on the album called Hymn To These Lands. The production is crisp and clear and suits the band' style like a glove. Unfortunately I have myself disappointed in some choice the band made, some vocal choices are more than questionable, but sometimes I really don't quite like the technique the singer uses. I guess it's been chose this way to suit the moody feeling of the release which is darker than the first one. There's also some clumsy moments, some boring ones too and questionable transitions with some moments that seem to have been done quickly or that lack some more tweaking. Take for instance the cool song The Power's In Your Hand, what a killing riff to start a song, then the transition to the bridge tries to be progressive, but really it nearly kills that wonderful songs with clumsiness. Then take Gathering Resistance, with an almost perfect chorus, and then, the last sentence is singed in a way that throws the result down to a very good song where this one could have been a huge classic, especially with the choirs after the solo (which is a bit repetitive and drag on a little too much for nothing since it's much inferior than the song's main riff which rocks like hell !!). These are some of the moments in the album that maybe shows that the album lacks some polishing.

In the long run these will probably vanish as details, that furthermore appear mostly in the first listens, quickly the epic feeling and raging guitar riffs and solos coupled to the very emotional vocals will make you forget all that and in the end Prophets of Evil is a very good album, a bit inferior than their debut but still a very good album to own for all True Metal fans. But it lacks this little plus that makes it a masterpiece. Although I awaited a bit more I can't really say I'm disappointed because Nostradameus stood true to their roots, unlike some bands (Iron Fire to name only the biggest disappointment this year !!!) that can't put down a decent second album and use stupid excuses (ex : "we don't want to make similar albums...") to cover their incompetence. An album you can buy without hesitation if you know the band already, and for those who don't, I suggest you give Nostradameus a try, they have a powerful and very Epic Metal.