Tragedian - Unholy Divine

Share this on Facebook | Share this on Twitter

Hamburg based Power Metal band TRAGEDIAN have been on the scene for some time now and have built themselves up a great reputation; with 2 full album already under their belts, "Unholy Divine" marks their third and with 11 new tracks, a fresh line-up and some stellar guest performances from Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY, HELLOWEEN), Bob Katsionis (FIREWIND) and Andreas Babuschkin (PARAGON), this shows promise to be a great addition to the bands catalogue and indeed - the Power Metal genre.

"The Devil Calls You" opens things up with gradual build up on the keyboards leading into an epic riff, reminding me a lot AVANTASIA, and funnily enough, singer Alex Blank has a great voice very similar voice to Tobias Sammet (AVANTASIA, EDGUY) and being a Tobi fan myself, this was a great little treat! This first song is a power metal classic with soaring vocals, well executed guitar solos and an impactful chorus pull in the listener with force. Dullahan is a more mid-tempo and evil sounding song bringing down the high-octane mood from the first track. We also have a fantastic guitar solo from Gabriele Palermo here really showing what he can do, before leading into a heavy riff to bring the roof down! "Revelation 1318" is next and brings the pace right back up again with speedy riffs, double time drumming and a huge chorus to get your heart racing in true speed metal fashion.

"Over the Edge" returns to the slower and darker side of TRAGEDIAN with suspenseful riffs and haunting vocals you can really feel the tension in this song. We are also graced with a guest performance from Kai Hansen in this song making it a lot more memorable with his unique fast and melodic soloing style. "Flyaway" is just your ordinary straight up power metal song; fast guitars, double kick drumming, soaring high vocals and a big chorus. Although being a great song, this is the point in the album where I start to drift away a little bit because I feel like I've heard it before… So far this album has been pretty systematic and safe, following the structure of fast song, mid-tempo song, rinse and repeat, and my concern starts to set in that everything the album has to offer, I have already heard. And sadly I can't say much else.

Don’t get me wrong, the music here is incredible and a lot of fun, but it seems to be a predictable and generic power metal album; most of the songs are in the same key, follow the same structure, stick to very similar rhythms and tempos throughout and gets a little stale after 25 minutes which is a shame because there are some great songs on this album. However I do believe that fans of HELLOWEEN, BLIND GUARDIAN and EDGUY should definitely give this album a shot and buy it because the musicianship on display here is outstanding. I just wish it was slightly more varied and diverse but that's just a personal nitpick of mine and shouldn't put you off checking these guys out!

Songwriting: 6
Originality: 4
Memorability: 4
Production: 7