Somehow we missed Chronicles of Light last year, as it was one of those early 2016 releases that just slipped past us, but thanks to the folks at Pitch Black Records for making sure we got caught up on most of their priority releases that we overlooked. Arrayan Path are a power metal band from Nicosia, and Chronicles of Light is their fifth album overall. Actually, calling these guys simply a power metal band does them a bit of injustice, as they also encompass elements of progressive metal as well as early '80s styled classic metal. "Gabriel is Rising" tosses in some blazing Dream Theater/Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force inspired guitar & keyboard exchanges into a dramatic, dark metal framework. Bits of Fates Warning, Cirith Ungol, Symphony X, Iron Maiden, Helloween, and Judas Priest can be detected in their music, so obviously Arrayan Path studied the greats, but they really are trying to forge their own path, which you can hear on the cinematic, almost theatrical strains of "The Distorted Looking-Glass", a real tour-de-force for lead vocalist Nicholas Leptos. While "Orientis" is more straight forward power/speed metal, it's heavy as hell and contains some ripping guitar work courtesy of Socrates Leptos & Alexis Kleidaras. Keyboards and acoustic guitars are thrown into the epic metal mix on "Ignore the Pain", while the more upbeat and symphonic "Scorpio" is a must hear for Euro power metal fans, especially those who gravitate towards Edguy, Kamelot, and Rhapsody. For my money though, it's when the band dig down deep and go for more crunchy and groove laden material, as they do on the thunderous title track and the majestic "Lex Talionis", each one another example of the vocal prowess of Nicholas Leptos and containing some serious guitar firepower.
While I find the production a tad muddy in spots, it doesn't retract much from the overall power that this album exudes. Fans of epic sounding heavy metal would be well advised to seek this one out.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1.
Solomon Seed 04:52
2.
Gabriel is Rising 05:05
3.
The Distorted Looking-Glass 05:54
4.
Orientis 03:54
5.
Ignore the Pain 05:47
6.
Scorpio 04:09
7.
Chronicles of Light 04:40
8.
Lex Talionis 07:36
9.
December 06:54
10.
The Last Eulogy 05:35
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
