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Well, I've obviously been asleep at the wheel. Crystal Eyes is a Swedish band that has been around for 20+ years and Killer is their seventh full-length. They've had some great reviews here at The Metal Crypt for previous releases, so why am I just hearing them now?? Ah well, enough about my failings as a fan, Killer is exactly what the title implies; a killer collection of Heavy/Power Metal riffs, solos, high-pitched screams and catchy choruses. Musically, the songs on Killer combine the bruising riffs and vocal lines of Accept with the melody, speed and catchiness of Gamma Ray, a combination, in my mind anyway, that simply cannot lose. "Hail the Fallen" is a song you'll be singing along with almost immediately then Crystal Eyes shifts into high gear and rattles off the double-kick anthem "Solar Mariner." The vocals are gritty with high notes worthy of Kai Hansen or even King Diamond and the solos take the best of Murray/Harris and Hoffman/Frank and let it rip. The ballads, "Forgotten Realms" and "Dreamers on Trial," lack the immediacy of the rest of the songs. This doesn't make them bad but they tend to derail the flow of Killer. Just wait a bit for "Spotlight Rebel" and "Dogs on Holy Ground" to roll around and you'll soon forget about their predecessors.

I'm still pissed at myself for sitting on this promo for as long as I did because Killer is a fantastic album, one that I'm sure I'll be going back to time and again, as should any fan of Germanic Heavy/Power Metal. Crystal Eyes is a band whose releases I won't miss again.