InnerWish – No Turning Back
Ulterium Records – 2010
Greece’s InnerWish has released their fourth album – No Turning Back. From the first notes of the opening song “The Signs of Our Lives”, you can tell that this is classic European power metal with the dual guitars of Thimios Krikos and Manolis Tsigkos, the bass/drum backbone of Antonis Mazarakis and Terry Moros, the occasional keys of George Georgiou and a powerful soaring vocals of Babis Alexandropoulos. The band itself has been around for some time (since 1995) but with this album they teamed up with the Swedish label Ulterium Records, home to such bands as Audiovision, Sinbreed, Theocracy and Harmony. The production of this album really showcases the band. No instrument sounds out of place, as you sometimes here with some productions. And while there isn’t anything really ground-breaking in this release, it’s definitely some great power metal. There are plenty of great hooks in songs such as “The Sign of Our Lives” – the fast-paced opener – and “Lawmaker”. Babis’ vocals sound a bit like Christian Rivel at times, especially in “No Turning Back” although Babis doesn’t have the range of Christian. But for the music, his vocals fit perfectly. One thing that I really like about this album is that the keyboards aren’t over-powering. They provide just the right complimentary touch and then back away until they’re needed again, like in the song “Save Us”. And there are two songs of interest – “Kingdom of the Prime” and “Live for My Own”. “Kingdom of the Prime” is the longest song on the album and starts off with a bit of a Middle Eastern sound with a sitar playing. Then the band comes in full force along with an eleven-person chorus accompanying it. And “Live for My Own” is a song with just Babis singing along with a piano accompaniment. He really shows the emotions of the song with just his vocals. I would say that the overall sound of InnerWish on No Turning Back is similar to Mehida or Sinbreed. If you’re a fan of great European power metal, you need to get this album.
[rating:6/7]
Reviewed by Jeff de los Santos
