Evil Masquerade – Fade To Black
Metalist Magazine 4.5/5

I guess that any of you familiar with this band will already know what to expect from Denmark's neo-classical metal merchants Evil Masquerade – highly melodic, well played metal, imaginative guitar and keyboard passages, plenty of drama and humor, and since their former album – the powerful voice of the impossibly last-named Apollo Papathanasio.

It's nothing new or different from this band, and that's exactly How I like them – bringing to mind some Symphony X, some classic Helloween - all tied together by technically proficient players and a guitarist/main writer called Henrik Flyman that knows exactly what he's doing with his band.

The opener – "Light Out" is a typical Evil Masquerade album opener – grandiose and quite fast, it sets quite an energetic tone, which continues with "In A Dungeon Close To Hell", one of the band's heaviest moments to date, which certainly stretches the power and neo-classical metal limits into some of their most head banging extremes.
One of the band's favorite features for me is the harmony leads, which make several appearances here as well, bringing to mind some Queen Guitar wizardry; they tend to add that certain something which differentiates this band from many of its counterparts.

The Darkness Within harness a bit closer to the hard rock roots the band possesses, some rich harmony vocals with several classic Deep Purple/Rainbow riffing, filled by some old-school sounding keyboard work, and one of their best lead breaks in recent memory.
The hard rock vibe continues with "Hollow Soul", with a great heavy metal riff and accompanying Hammond keys the song threw me a bit towards some classic Rainbow material, taken to a faster and more neo-classical oriented direction.

"Powertools" again builds up the Neo-Classical elements, with just a hint of oriental riffing thrown in for good measure. The slightly complex drum rhythm and melody changes in the chorus make this one of the more sophisticated pieces on the album. While still melodic, the song twists and turns in a far more progressive direction which actually fits the band quite nicely.

Next is one of my favorite cuts on the album, the heavy and dramatic "The Ultimate Game", which benefits from some great, heavy riffing and great vocal passages – and a wah-wah lead break to kill for.
"Diamond Dust" is one of the band's most elaborate pieces, bringing together almost black metal tinged darkness with operatic and complex segments that bring to mind a rock opera of sorts, every bit of musical ingenuity they posses is put on display here.

Another thing that seems to remain unchanged is Flyman's usual quirky sense of humor, which was apparent since the band's debut. Where else can you find liner notes that state "This product is not suitable for religious fanatics" or "warning: do not consume this product of you have an allergy to digitalized hard rock music.,."

It seems this Danish band is incapable of disappointing, anyone remotely into melodic heavy metal should give this one a try, they might not have invented the wheel, but they sure as hell bring it quite close to perfection…

4.5/5

Alon Miasnikov

Metalist Magazine Hebrew version here.