I'm getting more and more happy with my new neighbour and looks like there's even others that I haven't discovered yet! Moonlyght from Quebec was a revelation and a good cultural shock for me. Now with this band from Montreal, I can say that I'm really proud to have such a good band so close to my home.

The music on this cd is really good, not too heavy or agressive. It's style reminds me of early Genesis. No, not the era with Phil Collins as a front man who turned the band upside down, making it sounds like a pop juke box machine. The first albums with Peter Gabriel as a main man. He was very enigmatic and their music was very progressive with classical and medieval influences. They were story tellers and were setting some sombre and mystical ambiance throughout their compositions. Those were the days ...Anyway, if you were a fan of the "real" Genesis, you'll sure want to get this cd.

This opus is separated in two chapters. The first one is called "Dark Tales of Rage and Romance" and the other "The War of Avalon" . Then you get the Epilogue and a bonus track for a total of fourteen pieces. Musically well composed, touching different types from classical, medieval, doom, gothic, prog and even power metal. Lots of variety and all of them are well done and full of magic. Since Mr. Pigeon composed all this great stuff and played everything except drums, I can only declare him a very talented and creative musician. But Eric Mireault has not to be shy of his drumming because he's quite accomplished too. The vocals, even if pretty good, aren't as strong as the music but they are quite diversified with a female singer and Mr. Pigeon going from spoken words to an excellent death.

Here's some of the highlights to be found. The opening track, is a superb instrumental filled with strong and powerful moments that breathe bravery. The classical influence is obvious and welcome. "Black Moon" has a nice keyboard intro, wolves howling , spooky spoken words, doom atmosphere, and a mid section that is quite dramatic and symphonic whereas the overall tune is pretty powerful. "The Reign of Evil" , is a good heavy number with medieval passages and melodic lines involving acoustic guitar. It's on this one that the female vocals are at their best. "Emperors of Tomorrow" is on the other hand quite majestic and progressive. But also being the heaviest piece, you'll get plenty of death vocals, machine gun drumming and so on making it an exciting song .

This album was referred to me by Guillaume the drummer from Moonlyght and here again I found a strong debut album from a band that deserves recognition on a larger scale.

by Denis Brunelle