Orden Ogan completely blew me away with a handful of excellent songs on their previous effort Vale. While not entirely consistent, songs like New Shores of Sadness, Farewell and Reality Lost was enough to win me completely over. Symphonic metal coupled with Running Wild-tendencies and a clever dose of their own skill and devotion made for a highly enjoyable, folk-tinged symphonic power metal album that blew most of the 08-releases out of the water. A fantastic sense of catchy melody-lines as well as creating hooks completely out of this world was the formula, and not surprisingly Easton Hope follows the same genious lines in both terms of song-writing and style. In all honesty Easton Hope picks up where Vale left us, and even though this doesn’t contain songs quite on the same heavenly level as its predecessor, they have solved the inconsistency-problem that annoyed me ever so slightly. Easton Hope is packed with compelling melodies, heavy riffs that sometimes even border to thrash, symphonic highlighting that colours every song brightly along with the great melodies. Even the intro, the atmosphere-settling Rise and Ruin which offers a neat orchestral composition, is attention-grabbing. Nobody Leaves starts off with fast, killer riffing before the double-bass pounding and the charismatic, high-pitched vocals of Sebastian Levermann. The mandatory sing-along chorus sparks more interest, and by the time the song has passed and Goodbye sets in, you have been drawn into the realm of Orden Ogan where pirates roam the sea, travelers roam the land, and folklore is passed from tongue to tongue.

Finding quality European Power Metal nowadays is like the needle in a haystack. There are very little that stands out, and in the recent years, the awesome stuff has been incredibly hard to find and I think I can count the bands and albums that has really grabbed me on one hand. Reminiscent of the glory days of Running Wild, Orden Ogan has managed to churn out an album that isn’t particularly re-inventing anything, but bringing back the spirit of the old days. Deliberate song-writing, thrilling guitar and keyboard-lines, clever vocal melodies that’ll hook you through any distraction, and pounding, earth-shaking drums that create a rock-solid backbone, makes for a great listen. Where Winds of Vale has a couple of songs, that are untouchable, Easton Hope consists of quality songs all over. I could go through every single one of them, but that would be a waste. Instead, take the words I have spoken of it to heart, and go listen to it. If you’re a fan of Symphony X, Pyramaze, Serenity and Running Wild and would like to know what that would sound like if mixed properly, then this is a no-brainer. Songs like Nobody Leaves, Welcome Liberty, All These Dark Years and We Are Pirates to name a few should be just what you want.