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I didn't know much about Elixir before last July, other than what was said about them in the NWOBHM Encyclopedia. This band was a late entry to the NWOBHM party, and never really went away but they're one of those underground bands that most people don't know about. I picked up a couple of their albums when they opened for Halloween in New Jersey a few months ago. The material on "The Idol" was written several years earlier and finally released in 2002.

Elixir play no-frills melodic heavy metal that has a "positive" vibe to it even though a look at the song names does not lead one to expect any kind of positive vibe. The overly melodic sound is mostly responsible for this little paradox, coupled with the clean and loud vocals that really take the lead throughout the album. The British accent and the vocal style sometimes lead me to understand something completely different, for example on "Deal With The Devil", when he sings "I sold my soul", the first few times (and even now) I kept wondering what the hell "Marcel Marceau" had to do with this song. :) Native English speakers may not have that problem while listening to this, however. Despite the very melodic vibe, you still get a good dose of heaviness and crunchy guitars that you'd expect from just about any metal band worthy of belonging to the genre. I've been spinning this album for a while now and have yet to grow tired of it, so I can definitely recommend it to those who enjoy a good balance of melody and metallic guitar work.