Reviewed by Andy Long

Stairway's metal roots are planted in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal that surfaced in the early 80s. This is British power metal in all its pomp and glory, heavy driving riffs interlaced with lightning speed lead work from bloody-fingered guitarist Pete Jennens. Songs such as "Battle Of Heaven" and "The Great Whore Of Babylon" are most reminiscent of Iron Maiden in their Paul Di'Anno years. In contrast "Bondage" is almost thrash and I could picture Stryper playing "Souls Of Zion". "Sweetest Song" is the obligatory testimonial ballad with classical guitar solo. In criticism I would say that the power metal sound is a touch old-fashioned now, the choppy riffs and stabbed intros have all been heard before, also the lyrics are all end-time exposition, a subject which quite frankly I'm fed up of hearing from white metal bands across the globe. But vocalist Graeme Leslie assures me that it is a concept for the album and new material will explore other avenues.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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