Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night (2004)

Sonata Arctica have always managed to bring out some good music, but inconsistent albums overall, and that's kind of the same here with this, their fourth release.
After the pretty good opener "Misplaced", there are such gems as "Ain't Your Fairytale", "Don't Say A Word" and the glorious "My Selene", but other tracks like "Blinded No More" and "The Boy Who Wanted To Become A Real Puppet" work less well. But the almost nine-minute opus "White Pearl, Black Oceans" managed to combine complexity and pop hooks with success, showing that these Fins know how to do it right when they put their minds to it.

***1/2

Edenbridge - Shine (2004)

I still find it hard to class Edenbridge as simply heavy metal. Alright, they're not seen as 'simply' heavy metal, as they come into the subgenres "power" and "symphonic" as well. But, even though they have the heavy rhythms, skilful guitar solos and pounding drums of metal, the speed of power (although not a lot here) and gradiose keyboard sounds of symphonic, they (as I've written in the past) have a grace and dignity that make these labels sound insufficient. 
This is the band's fourth album and, like their first three, it takes some work to get into, not because the songs are excessively complex, but the melodies and song structures are such that they don't leap out at the listener, and yet remain memorable and captivating. Lanvall, the writer and multi-instrumentalist, must be one of the most underrated metal perfomers around and Sabine Edelsbacher's angelic vocals are just getting better with every release.
It's hard to select stand-out tracks here - it's the way these Austrians work. But the record starts well with "Shine", and finishes just as well with "The Canterville Ghost", while in the middle is a collection of lilting and grabbing songs, with deftly poetic lyrics, that just become better and better the more one listens to them. And that really is one of Edenbridge's strengths - they mightn't have breathtaking ingenuity, but they somehow manage to offer much with what they do, and are a band whose material just continues to grow on the listener.

****

Steel Attack - Enslaved (2004)

Blimey, here we go again.
Alright, the music first.  Steel Attack's previous album, PREDATOR OF THE EMPIRE, was better than their first two by far, but this one, with another new vocalist in Ronny Hemlin, is a step back, showing less inventiveness and catchy hooks than before. However, it's still nicely fast and heavy, with skilful playing, and the melodies aren't a complete waste.
Now to the lyrics, and I'm afraid it's time to get religious again.
Sorry, but at the risk of sounding childish, these bands start it!
Here we have what seems to be a battle of religious beliefs in God, Satan, etc, and I'm going to try and piece it all together.  So we have a God who demands obedience or you get purgatory ("Out Of The Flames"), and being a follower of God is nothing but slavery that someone should want to be free of anyway ("Enslaved"), and let's not forget the multitude of Christians who kill in the name of Jesus Christ ("Bless My Sins"). Then again, there is a Satan to be wary of ("Immortal Hate") or some kind of evil ("Voices"), and this is all bookended by the desire to ultimately be with God in Heaven (the opening "Gates Of Heaven" and closing "Afraid No More").
And we shouldn't forget the band's "One Way To Heaven, One Way To Hell" that was a highlight of PREDATOR.
I'm not going to come to any more conclusions. Such lyrics certainly hold the interest, and are much better than "Ooohh, baby" from your average chart hit. And the music is good. Just not as good as these Swedes have done before.
Now, where's Narnia when I need them?

***

Arwen - Illusions (2004)

Arwen's debut MEMORIES OF A DREAM was very impressive, and this follow-up has a similar sound and style, even if it's not quite as good. Again, it's very positive, with the anti-war "No More Tears" one of the highlights, along with "Riding Alone", which has a keyboard sound which actually reminds me of Cyndi Lauper's "All Through The Night". There are two keyboardists in the eight-member ensemble and, again, male and female vocals are exchanged impressively, while the tunes are lilting and alternate between major and minor keys effectively.
Illusions was the final release from this Spanish band, which is a pity, because they developed their own, notable sound, which was put to some winning and charming material.

***1/2

Nostradameus - Hellbound (2004)

Hellbound.
Hmmm...
One thing I've been very fortunate about in regards to power metal is that I generally like the lyrics as well as the music. Black metal's hateful, anti-Christian stance is matched by its sound, so I have little temptation to get into it (although I admit I dabble on YouTube just a little bit), while power metal usually has more uplifting, postive themes, which suit the music.
However, that doesn't mean they can't come against things like religion, the Christian church, etc. T. Sammett likes to shake his fist at religion every now and again and, of course, things like The Crusades can make for great, violent album themes.
On this, Nostradameus' fourth album, they're again lamenting evil in the world with a rage which I think, in regards to a former album of theirs, I once described as "almost hateful love". The title song here comes right against some religions, although it's unclear whether it's against Christianity, Islam, a few others or all combined, but when they sing things like "kill the ones who refuse to believe in the holy words", one wonders what they must think of us. Do they really think the average Christian really wants to go around killing nonbelievers?? Um... no, we don't. Neither do we want to "rule the world by these fairytales", or by any other means.
I would normally say that songs like these are just focusing on the bad eggs of religion (which is obviously far more fun than focusing on the good), but it seems much more personal here. As someone who regularly debates atheists online, it's all stuff I've heard over and over and over, so it's hardly a shock; more of a head-scratching, "do you really know what you're talking/singing about?" attitude.
And I'm afraid it's hard not to agree with the line "I'm hellbound and there'll be no salvation for me."
Alright, sorry,  I wouldn't normally go into such depth about this kind of stuff, but there are times when I just have to speak out (even if no-one's listening) and offer some kind of rebuttal.
Of course, I haven't even spoken about the music on this record, which is quite good sometimes (perhaps ironically, "Hellbound" is one of the weakest songs in that regard), but not the band's best and no, I don't think I'm letting the lyrics sway me there. It just seems more inconsistent than normal.
Ah well. I have enjoyed some of Nostradameus' work in the past, and still respect what they do. I certainly wouldn't want them to come across as false. As I said, like many bands with such a stance, these Swedes obviously mean well, but when they show such spite like they do in, for instance, "Seven", they almost seem to contradict their stance.
Sorry, I'm off again.
I suppose they will continue to long for goodness in the world, which is an attitude that's hard to argue with, even if I can't agree with every view they have as to how it should be attained.
And they still do produce some good rock sometimes.

***

Dragonland - Starfall (2004)

Three albums in, and Dragonland still aren't doing it for me.  There are fair moments, particularly the final, three part "The Book Of Shadows", which is largely instrumental, though with heaps of back story in the booklet (all the songs have that to some degree), which I really could not be bothered reading, although I understand (from Wikipedia) that it's a story guitarist Olof Mörck wrote about some adventure that goes from the UK to Egypt to the USA. It shows potential. But, by now, Dragonland should be showing more than just potential, and the overall material, together with Jonas Heidgert's rather mediocre voice, just doesn't make the grade.

**1/2

Twilightning - Plague-House Puppet Show (2004)

Twilightning's second album is certainly an improvement over their rather ho-hum debut, with nice, and quite strong, keyboard sounds and some catchy songs, highlights including the opening, title track, "In The Fervor's Frontier", "Fever Pitch", "Diamonds Of Mankind" and the concluding "Lubricious Thoughts".
Nothing outstanding, but enjoyable.

***