The Legend of Valley Doom Part 1 is the first installment of a planned fantasy concept by Norwegian vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Marius Danielsen of the band Darkest Sins. As you can probably guess it's an all-star affair featuring vocalists & musicians from a wide variety of international acts from across the metal globe. Notable names such as Timo Tolkki, Tim 'Ripper' Owens, Chris Caffery, Ross the Boss, Mark Boals, Edu Falaschi, Mike LePond, Alex Holzwarth, Robb Weir, and many other are featured throughout alongside the leader Danielsen, as they deliver the storyline in grand, epic, power metal fashion.
If you love the sweeping, epic power metal of Avantasia, Rhapsody of Fire, Freedom Call, Blind Guardian, and Sonata Arctica, then without a doubt this album is going to be for you. Danielsen's vocals are reminiscent of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson at times, and he literally soars with power & precision over these epic arrangements, especially impressive when paired up against former Iced Earth/Judas Priest belter Owens on "The Prophecy of the Warrior King", the much traveled Boals on "The Battle of Bargor-Zun", and the leather lunged Mikael Holst on the speedy "Haunting My Dreams". Anthems are aplenty here, and one of the best is the raging "Mirror of Truth", complete with some incredible vocals from Danielsen and hard driving arrangements. The title cut is about as epic as you can get, as symphonic keyboards, virtuoso guitar work, and galloping rhythms form the framework for multiple vocalists to play their roles. "Lost in a Dream of No Return" is quite catchy, as Danielsen & ex-Dark Moor & Fairyland singer Elisa Martin trade off amid sizzling guitar solos from Heavenly's Olivier Lapauze and ex-Manowar gun slinger Ross the Boss. For those who want a slice of straight forward, pedal-to-the-metal power metal, look no further than "Raise Your Shields", a crisp barnburner with Boals taking the sole vocal and really running with it.
A project like this obviously takes a lot of time, effort, and love to put together, and Danielsen apparently worked on this first part for close to 10 years. Not sure how long the second installment of The Legend of Valley Doom will take to come to fruition, but I'm sure there's plenty left of the tale to tell, and in the meantime, there's enough epic fantasy themed power metal here to hold us over for quite some time.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1) Intro
2) The Battle of Bargor-Zun
3) The Prophecy of the Warrior King
4) Chamber of Wisdom
5) Mirror of Truth
6) Haunting My Dreams
7) The Legend of Valley Doom
8) Lost in a Dream
9) Raise Your Shields
10) Free As the Wind
11) Fallen Heroes
12) Outro
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