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No guesses as to what Beholder had in store with their 2001 debut, The Legend Begins, a chest-beating collection of fluffy Power Metal pumped full of rampaging riffs, tinkling keyboards, and so much double kicking you’d think their drummer had four feet. Beholder were one of the more memorable Italian PM acts in that they were fronted by both male and female vocalists, Patrick Wire and the adorable Leanan Sidhe. Their dynamic gives the band a fresh sound, at least in the vocal department. At this point in their career (they would go on to make two more albums after this), they specialized in a neo-classical, fantasy-drenched brand jacked somewhere between Luca Turilli and Secret Sphere; their later material was more inventive and Labyrinth-esque, almost progressive at times. None of that here, though; this is a concept record with tracks called things like "Ivory Tower", "The Fallen Kingdom" and perhaps the coolest track on here, "The Ring Of Freedom". Doesn’t take a genius to prefigure this bad boy, I’m sure you agree.

In the production stakes, The Legend Begins is a little rough, with the vocals being too upfront and occasionally clashing (neither singer was very good at the time). The songs have a certain charm and offer a good dosage of melody, but you’ve heard this a thousand times before. It still sends you back to a time when this version of the style wasn’t the parody it has become.