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October 8, 2008 |
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MESSIAH'S KISS - Dragonheart
SPV (2007) |
8.5/10 |
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01. The Ancient Cries
02. Babylon
03. Where The Falcons Cry
04. Dragonheart
05. Thunders Of The Night
06. Steelrider
07. City Of Angels
08. Nocturnal
09. Northern Nights
10. Open Fire
11. The Ivory Gates
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Are Germany's MESSIAH'S KISS well know in North America? Not quite sure. Should Metal fans pay attention to them? Absolutely! And now would a good time too as they just released their third album "Dragonheart".
MESSIAH'S KISS appeared on the Metal scene in 2002 with their debut album "Prayer For The Dying", followed up by its 2004 successor "Metal". Both albums offered nothing but good old '80s style, cool riffs and catchy choruses Metal. With "Dragonheart", the band take the same road and compromise nothing to deliver another great quality album. Right off the bat with the opening riff of "The Ancient Cries", we are propelled into a variety of fast, mid-tempo and slower songs that is sure to please any Heavy Metal purist. A great addition to the band's sound is lead singer Mike Tirelli (HOLY MOTHER) whose voice seems to gel perfectly with the music.
With song titles like "Babylon", "Thunders Of The Night" and "Open Fire", it's easy to see that "Dragonheart" is straight-forward, traditional Heavy Metal. Listening to the album does give the impression that we heard those songs before. And we did. MESSIAH'S KISS are not re-inventing Metal, nor are they contributing to its evolution for that matter. What they are doing is walking down a path that as been laid decades ago by bands like BLACK SABBATH, JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN just to name those three. So yes, pretty much all the Heavy Metal cliches you can think of are on "Dragonheart". But, here is another great cliche: "If it's not broken, don't fix it!"
While offering no real surprises, MESSIAH'S KISS still delivers and their message is loud and clear: They are Metal! There is also a special guest musician - Herman Frank (ACCEPT, VICTORY, SINNER), who plays lead guitar on all the songs, and also produced and mixed the album. MESSIAH'S KISS' "Dragonheart" is definitely worth checking out.
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