HORIZON - The Sky's The Limit

11 songs
50:21 minutes
*****
Massacre

Let's start this review out with a joke (because that was for me the only fun thing about this album). So while I was surfing the web to look for a webpage by Horizon, to get more information than was in the label info sheet, I fell on a really good review about this debut CD where it was written that Horizon have a really modern sound. So that made me laugh really loud. Probably not so funny when you haven't heard The Sky's The Limit yet, but if you have, then you'll understand the irony of it.

This is anything but modern or contemporary. If this album had been released ten years ago, in the big days of melodic speed metal à la Gamma Ray and Rage, I probably would have loved it, but this is the 21st century, and it's time to move on.

Apart from that, the album seems rather ok to me though. I mostly like the instrumentation, especially the interaction of the wildly melodic but fast guitars with the keyboard layers, which reminds me sometimes of the more hectic moments of Rainbow. But then I have a problem with the sometimes high pitched, sometimes bluesy (hello 70ies hard rock) vocals. But I guess everyone not into trad metal will have this same problem.

I'll just end this review with a neutral 5, knowing that I won't listen to it too many times (if at all), but those people still living with their minds in the past and afraid of getting on into the future might as well spend their German Marks, Luxembourgian, Belgian or French Francs (because I doubt they know that there is the Euro currency now) on Horizon.