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Third album for this Italian band that plays a crunchy blend of power metal that still manages to pack in plenty of melody and catchiness. The performances are quite good all around with no single instrument taking center stage so the sound, which also benefits from a sharp production, is smooth without coming across limp or commercial. There are no bad cuts on A Pledge to Darkness and no real innovation, but that isn’t always a detriment when a band puts this much effort into doing their chosen genre well. "Man, Machine, Almost Rhyme" has a chorus that I can imagine Silent Force laying on us, while "Exile to Arise" goes for a speedier approach with an emphatic vocal that brought to mind early Mob Rules. If you’ve been a fan of power metal for any length of time, Lionsoul isn’t going to surprise you, but on A Pledge to Darkness, it’s likely you’ll find something (or probably many things) to like.