MANTICORA - 8 DEADLY SINS - NIGHTMARE
To be frank, albums like Manticora's 8 Deadly Sins have become a dime a dozen. There is nothing in this Danish band's delivery that makes them worse than their counterparts, but the combination of power metal with the commercialism of background keyboards has just been done to death. To its credit, the quartet is heavier than average with songs like Melancholic and Creator Of Failure borderline thrashing. It is not enough to make one forget the harmonic singing, synthesizers and prevalent melody. Fall From Grace and Enigma, for instance, are just too commercial to be worthwhile to a heavy metal fan.
The album is a concept narrating the story of a dying man in his death bed with the songs cleverly beginning in 1934 and ending in 2004. Again, Manticora is OK as far as bands in the sub-genre go and should be a fine purchase for fans of Blind Guardian. The scene is overcrowded with too many bands, labels and yes-men media to the point of saturation. - Ali "The Metallian"