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On the surface, Javelin's debut, Fragments of the Inner Shadow, is a decent slab of Traditional/Power Metal with a few keys and progressive touches that should have given it a little separation from the rest of the bands playing this style. Early Queensryche and Sanctuary are good reference points for the way Javelin subtly changes riffs or time signatures in their songwriting. They also structure the vocal lines in ways reminiscent of the aforementioned bands. The guitars a very much in the Iron Maiden mold as you can hear in the classic twin-guitar work on "Now That I Know" but they also mix that up with some down-tuning a la A Tortured Soul (e.g. "Falling," which also features some harsher vocals).

I've referenced a lot of other acts and that is the problem with Fragments of the Inner Shadow; anything remotely catchy or interesting, and those moments are not nearly frequent enough, sound so strikingly like someone else, you might as well just pop in The Warning or Powerslave. And the stuff that doesn't sound familiar is dull.

Fragments of the Inner Shadow isn't bad but when "bland" and "derivative" are the first adjectives that crop up in my mind when reviewing an album, you can be sure I'm not going to recommend you spend much time tracking it down.