Excalion
High Time

February 2010
Released: 2010, Limb Music
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Thorsten Zwingelberg

HIGH TIME - that's the title of Excalion's third masterpiece. And let me tell you, it was really high time that the Finish melody monster released a new album. It's been about two years since WATERLINES saw the light of day and got me addicted on the spot. With two excellent Melodic Metal albums up their sleeves, I was curious whether Pääkkönen & Co would be able to live up to my expectations for a third time.

About to explode with excitement, I was pressing the play button on my CD player. And already the opener, "Enter a Life", leaves no questions open as to who's the current King of Melody in Europe's metal scene. While Pääkkönen still rules with his unmatched vocal lines, the instrumental section backs him up like a king's armored soldiers.

However, being good often doesn't seem to be enough these days. Excalion, therefore, don't just copy their first two releases but manage to add some new elements to their songs (e.g. oriental melodies in "Sun Stones") while still keeping all those powerful ingredients that make WATERLINES and PRIMAL EXHALE such powerful albums, just listen to the somewhat slow but still strong "Foreversong" or the power ballad "A Walk On A Broken Road".

Excalion turns out to be one of the few bands that manage to deliver over and over again. Raw riffs, warm vocals, apt keyboards and a powerful rhythm section are the ingredients of what every Melodic Metal fan is looking for - with HIGH TIME you'll get it all at once!