At first you hear frightful moans from distressed maidens before the music kicks in and these Frenchmen are at it like the best SYMPHONY X until the fruity stuff takes over. In fairness, on the title track HEAVENLY give EDGUY a run for their money; the song "Carpe Diem" is a lovely example of European Power Metal executed to perfection. Also lovely are the two women in lingerie on the cover about to lock lips. It's a refreshing departure form having either a skull or some sword wielding douche represent your album.

"Lost In Your Eyes" marks the beginning of the soft stuff. It's not a mild track by any stretch, but after a steady diet of OVERKILL and the new FEAR FACTORY in recent weeks, HEAVENLY has a hard time hanging with the boys. Horror of horrors, come "Farewell" singer Ben Sotto is delivering these Freddie Mercury wails and instead of doing the late QUEEN frontman justice the guy sounds, for lack of a better word, fruity. After four minutes of said high-pitched wails that grate on your ears to the accompaniment of saccharine guitar licks that do Brian May proud, you'd expect meatier fare to come next. Nuh-uh. The band simply get more effeminate on "A Better Me" and almost halfway past "Carpe Diem" you're praying for some serious Heavy Metal crunch to offset the cheese.

Too bad the absolute power is still missing on "The Face Of The Truth", which in all honesty has its stellar moments despite its failure to leave an impression. The redemptive "Ode To Joy" explodes in a few seconds of classical music until HEAVENLY go at it with guitars a-blazing, accompanied by the long-familiar Speed Metal percussion Pierre Destray seems to love so much. Thank the heavens (no pun intended) "Save Our Souls" finally arrives to save your soul, sashaying in with a flurry of sinister electronic sound bytes until the hammer strikes the proverbial anvil for a farewell kiss that's at least halfway manly for these Metal dandies.

More than a decade since the subgenre was born, Symphonic Metal remains an acquired taste. HEAVENLY's newest scores high for those chicks on the cover, yet almost every aspect of this entire opus has been done before.