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One of the most anticipated albums of the year for power metal fans is finally here, the second part to the critically acclaimed Metal Opera written by Edguy’s main man Tobias Sammet. After the pure brilliance of the original you may be slightly concerned if this one would be able to live up to the original but as Tobias has shown time and time again he is certainly up to the challenge.

Ok, now that I have shamelessly kissed enough ass (I was about to hose you down :) - Ed.) so lets get down to the music. This album is of course again filled with a veritable who’s who in the power metal world and they all bring their significant talents to the party. I won't bother naming them all since there has been enough of that on the original album… Suffice it to say that whatever band you like in power metal more than likely there is a member from that band doing a part on this album as well. While listening to this album I am once again struck by the whole concept of the album. Writing not just songs for each individual guest on the album but rather writing parts for each person. So in some songs there may be as many different vocalists as there are parts to be played. This really adds to the overall feel of a continuing story rather than songs about the same topic. The music itself is just awesome once again with some really killer songs that just get stuck in your head even from the first listen. Some of my personal favorites are "The Final Sacrifice" which features Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen together again (Man what I wouldn’t give to see Kiske in Gamma Ray…) and the pure riff driven song "Memory" which will be stuck in your head for weeks. The biggest highlight for me however was the song "The Seven Angels" which starts off the album with 14+ minutes of a songwriting clinic. The feeling and emotion in this song is simply awe-inspiring and this really showcases Tobias’s considerable talent as a songwriter.

When considering these albums as separate works they are excellent but added together they may very well be in the top 5 of the best power metal albums ever recorded. I know this is some extremely high praise but everything about these two albums is top notch. The songwriting, the guests appearing, the musicianship, the entire concept to actually write a METAL opera…when you add all these factors together I believe that praise is well earned. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.