• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Backhill is a side-project from Masquerage guitarist/vocalist Kimmo Perämäki and the band's debut, Shadow Man, is a nice little package of melodic Traditional Heavy Metal. Perämäki handles all the instruments and vocals with drummer Marko Ylä-Häkkinen rounding out the recording line up. The songs are guitar-driven with just enough keyboards to emphasize the melodies and anyone familiar with Masquerage knows Perämäki has a decent set of pipes. There's not a lot of innovation on Shadow Man, not that fans of this type of music are looking for the envelope to be pushed much, but the middle of the album drags a bit. The tempos are mostly mid-paced and the songwriting is average. However, Backhill shows some promise with numbers like "She Said" and "Time Won't Wait Your Crying." These songs move along sharply and the choruses are seriously catchy. Overall, Shadow Man is a solid debut for Backhill, one that forecasts better things to come. If you like the 80s output of Iron Maiden and Queensryche with a little UFO in the mix definitely check it out.