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Can you remember a time when Children Of Bodom didn't hold the monopoly on Power Metal with harsh vocals? Swedish horde Brimstone can. They claim they were there first, and it certainly sounds like it on their debut release from 1998. Of course, Something Wild was out a year before, but it mixed many genres; Carving A Crimson Career is Power Metal through and through, only with harsh Death Metal vocals. Interesting? At the time probably, yes. And now?

Considering Brimstone left the keyboards at home, there is a far more traditional edge to this than anything attempted by Alexi Laiho. For a start, the riffs and drum work are straight out of Legacy Of Kings-era HammerFall, while a fair amount of Judas Priest, Helloween, Iron Fire, and Grave Digger can be heard in the melodies. The vocals are irrelevant; they bark without merit above the guitars, which are the star of the show. Production-wise, things are strong, too, and even after all these years, it holds up to most of today's releases. Songs like "Breaking the Waves", "Pagan Sons" and "Welcome to the Night" are bound to raise a smile among Power Metal fans, as well as those who have become enamored with the rise of bands such as Wintersun and Amon Amarth. Lost to the ages, Carving A Crimson Career is one for the Power Metal history books.