Regressus, the title of the new album by Mystic Prophecy actually means "return". Return is certainly a word that describes the sound of this band. Guitarist Gus G. (Dream Evil, Firewind and Nightrage) and company have put together an album so full of monster rip-your-face-off guitar riffs that you'd almost think it was the 80's again. They've managed to resurrect the thick chunky metal style of Metallica's Ride The Lightning album and mix it with great melodic power metal vocals and have come up with a sound that can be described as a slightly more melodic version of Iced Earth. The band's debut album, Vengeance was more of a power metal album and not quite as heavy as this one. Nuclear Blast records was so convinced of the appeal and quality of Regressus that they signed the band only 1 week after hearing the album.

I must say that Gus G. is slowly becoming somewhat of a guitar god in the world of metal. Known mainly for his work with Dream Evil, he is also the guitarist for Firewind, another great U.S. style power metal outfit and another new band Nightrage, featuring members of At The Gates which promises to be a more darker sounding band with 2 vocalists, covering both the clean and dirty styles vocals prominent in metal today. Gus G. plays with the kind of energy and fierceness of a very seasoned veteran, showing a maturity in his playing style way over and above his young age of only 22 years old. Rounding out the line-up of this band is R.D. Dimitri (Valley's Eve), vocals, Martin Albrecht (ex-Stormwitch, Valley's Eve), bass, and Dennis Ekdahl (Raise Hell), drums.

With vocals that are both rough and aggressive as well as soaring and melodic, Mystic Prophecy embarks the listener on a virtual riff-fest of some of the most explosive guitar riffs I've heard since Iced Earth's Something Wicked This Way Comes. The band mixes up the tempos from fast and furious to pounding and crushing heavy, all done with as many fills and changes as can possibly be fit into one song. Flurries of double bass drums and galloping guitar riffs blast out all over this album. I think it's the double tracking of Gus G.'s rhythm parts that gives this band the killer sound. Randy Rhoads (Ozzy), James Hetfield (Metallica) and more recently Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) have used this technique to fatten up the rhythm sound and when you double track with the same guitar player, a very tight and explosive sound is achieved. I say explosive because that's exactly the way the guitar sounds with chords that just explode from your speakers while listening to this album. There's lots of great wild and technical riff interludes and Gus' lead guitar playing is ripping and very technical without being too flashy. The Iced Earth similarities are most evident on the songs Regressus and Mystic Prophecy with the former having a more dramatic Something Wicked Trilogy type of feel to it.

The only real fault I can find with this album is that most songs follow the same structure vocally with the verse/chorus sections. The only real difference between the simply "good" songs and the "killing" songs is in the quality of the vocal delivery and chorus. All of the songs have the kind of big heavy riffs that would be enough to make several great power metal albums. The words "typical" and "predictable" certainly wouldn't be out of place in describing this album but the sound is pure heaven. Crank this one up and enjoy all the neck breaking riffs and energy. One of the best pure heavy metal albums I've heard in a while. A must buy!!