Swedish prog-power featuring members of Dynazty and Degradead, Paralydium are very easy to sum up, particularly for readers of a specialist site like this who can be expected to know what, say, Dream Theater plus Symphony X sounds like! And sure, it may not be the most original of sounds, but all present can play their instruments, frontman Mikael has a decent amount of grit in his voice, and the writing is solid. There's a touch of orchestral bombast on intro Enter Paralydium but by far the meaty majority is in the heavy, Petrucci-esque riffing that beefs up the band's base sound and provides a solid foundation for vocal and keyboard flourishes. The weakest thing about first track proper Within the Sphere is the cliched lyrics about dreaming of a new tomorrow, and that's easily forgotten once the guitars and keyboards start trading solos!

And the songwriting, although not superb, is good enough to show that the band have had experience in the power metal genre, such as the way Synergy builds up to its infectious chorus and doesn't outstay its welcome despite being over seven minutes long. Little touches here and there like Spanish guitar and choral vocals add spice and flavour and help ensure that the Dream Theater-y instrumental sections remain fun despite being used in pretty much every song. Those who hate Petrucci and co will find Worlds Beyond quite a chore, but for Theater nerds there's much to like, almost a lost album from 20 years or so ago. Yet even a little more variety would go on a long way, the rare moments when the power metal side of the band take dominance such as late-tracklisting highlight The Source feeling all the better for it. Nothing here is actually bad, particularly Into Divinity's alternating crunchy riffing and vocal melodies, yet it all feels more like a promising debut album rather than a powerful statement from veterans of the scene. And even quite good finale Seeker of the Light, with a greater emphasis on vocalist Mikael's skills, can't prevent a feeling that Paralydium can do much better. Fun while it lasts, at least, but not especially memorable.