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I've had this album a while now, and as a result it's received a fair bit of spin in my playlists and I have to admit, this sounds as fresh now as the first time I heard it. Four years on from their debut album Onwards, a lot has changed since said album. They started life as a band playing a melodic brand of heavy metal boasting a youthful energy and some sublime guitar work courtesy of ex-Griffin (Norway) member Marcus Silver. With The Road Less Travelled we see Triosphere moving into different waters, where as once they were balls to the wall, pedal to the metal we now have a more calculated effort building on their melodic heavy metal base with blocks of prog and power metal.

Treading through moody passages, with a firm focus on arrangement and songwriting not to mention the hooks, by the time this album had its way with me I felt as though I'd spent a night with the Cenobites. This is another one of those releases that grows over time; I've been spinning this bad boy relentlessly. Even the intro kicks ass, with some of the fastest drumming on the album although I won't deny it is a little misleading because we rarely find that speed again. However that shouldn't be seen as detrimental to this album, because its strength lies in the songwriting and arrangement as mentioned before. Tracks such as "The Human Condition" with an excellent vocal performance from singer/bassist Ida Haukland, and of course Marcus Black's technical yet beautiful guitar work best show the sound across the album - hell I even detect a sly nod to Journey in this song. "Watcher" is one of my personal picks, I just can't shake that chorus out of my head, and in fact the songs following "Watcher" are all noteworthy. "21" is a smoking affair reminding of their debut – again a majestic chorus that really stays with you. "Worlds Apart" is another stunning number and stands as my current favorite from the album, blending a heavy verse with a moody chorus section.

For me, this is the best female-fronted metal album of the year so far and I can't imagine anything coming along to top this. Triosphere have gone from being a decent heavy metal band to a demanding, yet ultimately charming prog/power act. With nothing majorly offensive, and the only real niggles being a slight dip in quality in the middle – although this is only in comparison to the rest of the tracks on offer – The Road Less Travelled is an excellent album worthy of your coin and of course a road I'll no doubt be travelling right into the future. See you there.