Secret Sphere
Archetype

December 2010
Released: 2010, Scarlet Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Robert Williams

Secret Sphere are a veteran six-piece power metal troupe hailing from beautiful Alessandria, Italy. They have released five prior full length records and appeared on the Helloween tribute album "Keepers of Jericho" with their rendition of "How Many Tears".



After beginning with a short intro piece, Secret Sphere really kicks into full force with a healthy dose of epic bombast on "Line of Fire". This ass kicker of a track takes influence from all over the place. For example, the background vocals remind me of Hammerfall (who incidentally use the exact same background chorus on their track "Hearts of Fire" just swap out "Line" for "Hearts" and there you go) musically speaking, this brand of aggressive and melodic power metal has more to do with Primal Fear than Hammerfall.



The monster production on ARCHETYPE must have cost these Italians a pretty penny. Aside from the keyboards being a bit too loud in the mix, the overall quality on this record could match that of a Nuclear Blast or Century Media release. "The Scars That You Can't See" features an instantly catchy chorus that reminds me quite a bit of Finland's Goth Metal export To/Die/For. Vocalist Roberto "Ramon" Messina has a pretty unique voice however and an excellent range to his credit.



"Mister Sin" sounds a bit like modern day Helloween, but you probably already figured that out on your own with the cartoonish song title. The balladesque "All In A Moment" is all futuristic with it's techno synthesizer loops and incorporates the use of a female vocalist. That kind of combo is sure to go over well with the Prog Power fans.



All in all, this is an enjoyable release that is sure to gain Secret Sphere some ground within the power/progressive metal genres. After spinning this in it's entirety, I'm a little confused why a release of this quality wouldn't be picked up by a larger label, but at the end of the day this should propel Secret Sphere to the top of the totem pole over at Scarlet Records and that in itself is somewhat of an achievement.