From the land of Beer and Berliners, Metal became an integral part of the German culture with an enormous scene. When I got the new
THE MYSTERY album,
“Apocalypse 666”, I thought that here is another Heavy Metal album that I already heard before with nothing to renew. Some of that was revealed as true, there isn't anything new on this album, but one thing is certain – those melodies are catchy, and it took me back to 80s years. After the first listening to the album I was left with a taste for more and the songs kept playing back in my head. I got to relate to an issue on the band. I was surprised when I found out that the singer is a female. This happened to me when I met
WHITE SKULL and
ZED YAGO. This is what makes it spicy and rough.
The opening
"Apocalypse 666” but what comes after it is nothing but a Heavy Metal bomb mixed with nice melodies all the way. There are some gold jewels here like
"Outlaw" with a winning spirit and hooking chorus.
"Blacken Ivory" is one of the best songs here, with a strong opening guitar riff and harmonies working overtime. The formula of true old school is working with force and it is being shown well on
"War Cry", a Heavy / Speed Metal melt with melodies and the drums work on the drums base adding the song the right rhythm.
"Ride On" is another great song, with a bombastic opening, reminds little bit the new
SAXON stuff, and enormous chorus. I would say that this is the best song on the album, thanks to the tight melody singing that reach to high notes and breaks the boundaries of the singing here. The chorus is absolutely an anthem.
When I am talking about powerful female singing I am not talking about female opera stuff like
NIGHTWISH or non emotional singing like on
ARCH ENEMY. Here I got everything – from soft side like on their ballad
"In Heaven Or Hell" and a rougher tight metal like on their song
"Assaulted Minds", thanks to
Iris Boanta, their talented singer. It is hard for me to describe the album just as a typical heavy album because it's not. You will find here some influences from the greatest band from all time, from
ANNIHILATOR to
RUNNING WILD and
SAXON. This album puts again the Heavy Metal on the map.