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Um.. where's the hate? I'm not picking it up. What we have here is yet another album of melodic power metal with a lot of 80's trad metal influences. It's nicely produced, has some damn good lead guitar work and the drumming is as solid as a ball of rock, and of course the vocalist soars and wails. That's all well and good, but the band is called Haterush, and Sugar-rush would be more appropriate. It's the musical equivalent of candy – tastes good and has absolutely no nutritional value at all.

That little grizzle aside, this is a pretty good album. There's a few stinker songs riddled throughout, as I've come to expect from power metal albums – "Sea of Love" in particular is horrible sappy drivel with an extremely awkward chorus. Being Swedish, the vocalist has a thick accent which sometimes overwhelms the ears and becomes somewhat distracting, but nowhere near as bad as some examples. On the plus side, songs like "Titans Will Fall" and "Warrior" kick some serious butt, even though the production remains quite dry and somewhat strangles the power of the riffs.

Overall this will certainly appeal to fans of this style – it's upbeat, catchy and, best of all, is never drowned in a deluge of wussiness. The guitars always take centre stage, rather than acting as a background buzz to support layers of helium-huffing vocals and glitzy synth. So, if you like happy power metal with a solid grounding in 80's trad metal – for a quick reference, imagine Jag Panzer, albeit watered down – then don't hesitate to pick this up. Me, I think I'll go listen to some Gorgoroth before my ears develop diabetes.