Twilight Guardians
WASTELAND

January 2005
Released: 2004, Spinefarm Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

What´s with Finland and with its countless flow of Power Metal acts to the international Metal markets? Huh, like there could be straight answers to that question (or is there?). Is it because bands like Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Thunderstone and a few other bands of the same ink have once proved that Finns are actually pretty damn good at creating some high-standard and largely accepted sounds of Power Metal? Well, if you have answers to that, then please let me know, too, will ya? One thing, however, is certain: I don´t have them; I mean, the answers for what I, or probably even you looking for.

Twilight Guardians contains five talented musicians who have well adopted some of those secrets of creating somewhat catchy and effortlessly flowing Power Metal ´hit songs´, reminding me a peculiar way of bands from Gamma Ray (tune your ears for the opening track “Weak Generation” and you start shaking your head in a full agreement with me) to Sonata Arctica (“The Next Call”) to even a band like Iron Maiden (the choir part of “King of the Wasteland” is nothing, but plain Maiden) – naturally added with some Yngwie Mamsteen type of neo-classical elements that seem to be an obligatory ´evil´ for many young Power Metal acts these days. Everything falls in its own places on WASTELAND pretty damn easily indeed, offering a listener a secure package of a safe and well-churned out Power Metal entertainment nearly 50 minutes, so we should have a great record here according to my recently spitted out description about the album, right? Granted, they indeed tend to sound good and have made a very solid album and all that, but don´t all Power Metal bands do nowadays? Even if the guys might have all the necessary ingredients already ready for becoming, let´s just say, ´the next Sonata Arctica´ out from Finland, I think WASTELAND still unfortunately turns out to be a teeny-weeny faceless effort as a whole and the band needs a bit more of its own unique identity that they seem to be lacking on this record right now. Being talented doesn´t always automatically mean you can make an indelible impact on people. You also have to know what to do with your talent, otherwise your road will be shorter than you could possibly ever imagine in the first place.

A letdown? Well, compared the band´s debut album titled TALES FROM THE BRAVE that was released four years ago, hardly, but still a bit disappointing album after all, unfortunately not kind of living up all my expectations well enough that I originally had set for it long in advance.