Alter Ego

What we have here is a bad case of formatism (=format racism). There's basically a Mini-LP's worth of great, classic Italian Metal offered here, but far too many 80's Metal fans are missing out because they just "don't collect singels, man.." Well, righting such wrongs is exactly what we do here at The Corroseum, saving the world one Metal review at a time...

It starts off great with "Corri..." hammering our faces with some good ol' Raven-like proto-speed, not of the Metal-history-rewriting-kind, but the sort that ensures this ride is definitely not going to suck. The first 30 seconds of "Rock On" is a bit of a scare though - the sappy, token ballad for the girls already? No, thank doG it quickly develops into a mighty fine Metalrocker lodged somewhere inbetween the early works of Iron Maiden and Gotham City.

Even better is the B-side opener "Faida Finimondo" with its perfect blend of melody and speed, but it's the closing "Vecchio Eroe" that's the one pick of the two pairs here, the moment where the band reaches the level of Killer! Pounding power-chord Metal Might like the bestest bits of early Arkangel, with a very tasteful addition of un-wimpy, dark-pompy keys in the bridge. A textbook example of how you get the listener to remember (and perhaps even overrate, ha...) your release by reversing the quality-drop of the track-order and saving the best for last. Got me hooked good!