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This is Heavenly’s latest album, Carpe Diem, and as expected this is a Power Metal album in the European vein all the way through. I only have only one other album, Virus, and I read some raving reviews about it but when I listened to it I found it to be incredibly boring and grossly overrated. I was expecting more of the same here, but to my surprise this has a different sound from that record. The album is composed of uplifting songs that some people will say are happy and others will say are a full on mainstream pop assault. I felt that it was good music, borderline metal (it has some pop melodies after all), so I am kind of middle on the road on this one.

The songwriting is all over the place; on one hand you have killer songs like the title track and “Ashen Paradise” but on the other hand you have repetitive ballads like “Farewell”. But make no mistake, this is a metal album, it’s just that is not “in your face” like some others. The riffs and solos are unquestionably Power Metal but this has many vocal harmonies/choruses that may lead you to wonder if that is true. Heavenly’s musicianship is good if not great, starting with their singer; he has pristine range, can hit the extremely high notes and he has a good enough voice to carry a song (even though his accent is noticeable). Their guitarists are good as well and while the riffs might be common, their leads are the highlight in each song, improving them by leaps and bounds. The rhythm section just keeps things together, but that is hardly a reason to complain, they do the job and that is the least that I could ask (the lack of double bass abuse is always a plus with me).

The record could have been a classic but there are a few things that keep that from happening. First, the aforementioned “pop” melodies, if there is an album that has some resemblance in this aspect it would be Cain’s Offering – Gather the Faithful. If you like that album, then you’ll like this, otherwise avoid this like the plague. Second, the overuse of keyboards, in some songs they are often abused, greatly reducing their quality. Third, although it gets better with each listen, it can get stale pretty quickly if you don’t have the right mindset when listening to it. Bottom line, this is a good Power Metal record with awesome cover art. It is a perfect introduction to the music for someone who hasn’t listened to a metal album in his or her life. In my opinion, Carpe Diem is an improvement over Virus, but don’t expect this to be groundbreaking in any way.