Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Synasthasia Style Collector Company: Self Release Release: 2012 Genre: Power Reviewer: EC

A good solid album

I'm not in a metal band and haven't played any instruments since the recorder in 1982. I do have two rules in place if I were to ever start a band. One, make the logo easily legible so EVERYONE can read the name of my band. Second, I would have a band name that can be researched easily, one that flies off the tip of the tongue and can easily be found in one fell swoop on Google.

Germany's Synasthasia is neither of these, in fact it took me five tries to Google information for them and I couldn't remember how to spell the name for this very review. The logo is obnoxious and I hate the name and I just wanted to get that out and about and off of my soapbox before summing up this album review.

These Germans are playing a rather unique brand of traditional power metal, one that that finds them playing a good mix of old Helloween, newer modern metal with growls and a good solid dose of NWOBHM style similar to the faster Iron Maiden numbers. This is the band's fourth album since their conception in 1998 and I would imagine this sort of thing should be popular since it crosses over several sub-genre boundaries of metal. The aggressive parts remind me of Gothenburg-style melodic death, maybe something like Callenish Circle or Dark At Dawn, complete with raspy vocals that aren't really black metal or high register. The faster guitar parts are power metal gallops, maybe like "Aces High" with some songs lit up like Helloween's "Keepers" era.

The end result is a good solid album from an indy band that would be on pace with 3 Inches Of Blood if it had better production values.