Highlord - Heir Of Power (1999)

On the surface, Highlord's debut "Heir Of Power" has a lot going for it. The band has a good name, the album cover is eye-catching, and there are titles like "Will Of A King", "Bloodwar In Heaven" and "Land Of Eternal Ice". And they're from Italy! Rhapsody's from Italy!
But there are three factors that work against the record. 1) The material is tuneless and boring. You'd find more hooks in a balloon shop. 2) Singer Vasce is not very good. And 3) Thanks to the thin production, the guitars sound like kazoos! I mean, really! When the early "Through The Wind" first started playing, I seriously thought to myself 'are those kazoos??'
Needless to say, I did not like this album. At all.  It is tedious in the extreme, and remains, to date, the worst power metal album I've ever heard.  Highlord are not  Rhapsody. They're not even Skylark.
On this album at least, they're dreadful.

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