Saidian is what happens when boring musicians come together and play boring Power Metal. If one is going to play this type of music one needs to look at what constitutes as meaningful and what doesn’t. Saidian have taken it upon themselves to oust Edguy from the throne of Power Metal divinity. Unfortunately for them Saidian are going to war against a city state with a pea shooter of inadequate songs and performances. Overly familiar musical trappings hit you right from the start here with the long, boring, obligatory intro and continues through with heroically titled Ride On A Phoenix After riding round with desire on wings of fire that take me higher in the first minute I was already having gas pains from the syrup content I was ingesting. So um , what’s next on the list… Oh. Praise The Lord eh? Ok let’s give this one a shot. Shitty title aside, (just like no one should ever think calling a song Forever, or Warriors ever again, no metal band should call their song Praise The Lord ) the pace does quicken here if only for a brief moment. But, just like every track on here, things come back round to a boring crawl. There are no dynamics. If you’re a Power Metal band you need that speed, that power, that aggression.

Performance wise the individuals of the band don’t suck but they do not sound inspired either. The best example of this is Saidian’s attempt to be epic, The Jester. Hey, look, another boring tempo that sounds like every other damn song but this time at the end the band throws some harmony vocals in the outro. I can see what they wanted to go for, I can hear the effect they tried to reach in my head, but what’s coming out of the speakers is not grandiose, majestic, or bombastic. Instead there is flat, boyish, chanting. Looking at the landscape of song titles one can tell the music simply by the grocery list of recycled names. Fallen Hero, Nine Lives, Ride Like The Wind, See The Light, Power And Glory.

Phoenix is underwhelming in every category. There aren’t horrible atrocious performances but there isn’t anything remotely interesting going in with the way the songs are played and arranged. I can’t find any full track that I can say I enjoy. I usually hate it when people tell me shit sounds the same but, this album, every song sounds like the one before it. Below average, avoid, run away, do not buy. I can’t make it any clearer than that.