Highlord
Medusa’s Coil

August 2004
Released: 2004, Arise Records/Noise Pollution
Rating: 1.5/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

Though Italy’s Highlord are new to me, MEDUSA’S COIL is actually their fourth album. Band members Andrea Marchisio, Alessandro Muscio and Stefano Droetto wrote the music and lyrics that make up the eight track album. The album was produced by Arise Records along with Luigi Stefanini and is engineered/mixed by the band.



MEDUSA’s COIL features an average production and sound, nothing more or less. Marchisio (vocals) and Muscio (keys) make up a big part of the Highlord sound. Muscio knows what he’s doing, but he’s no Richard Andersson (Majestic, Time Requiem, Space Odyssey) or Jens Johansson (Malmsteen, Stratovarius, etc). As for Machisio, his voice is nothing to get excited about, as it’s weak and not impressive in the least.



As for the sound, Highlord play very melodic power metal with keyboards at the top of the mix. There are also some influences from both progressive and neo-classic hard rock. The music is well played and MEDUSA’S COIL has some strong material, but on the other hand there are dozens of bands that play this kind of music. To succeed in this particular metal genre you have to be something special. Highlord aren’t.



http://www.soundpollution.se