Secret Sphere - Mistress Of The Shadowlight

Year of Release: 1997
Label: Elevate Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 50:06:00

Although this CD has been out for a while, guitarist Aldo sent me this for a review and to be the prize of a Secret Sphere contest, which will be up soon. As this is the Korean version of the album, it is most definitely worth having! Sadly, I can't keep this baby myself, damn, hehehe. Well, this is another band to join the power/speed metal attack from Italy. Secret Sphere have six members and this is their debut CD out on marvelous Elevate Records.

To give you an idea what this sounds like I would say they sound like a cross between Rhapsody and Labyrinth. It's up-tempo, melodic, symphonic, heavy, with classical, especially baroque-an elements. The guitars are heavy and always on the attack, the keys are symphonic and present, and they also have a good mid-to-high ranged vocalist. You got fast paced rockers as well as beautiful piano layered ballads.

It took some time for me to get into this CD, but now that I did, I find this to be an excellent disc, perhaps one of the best CDs of the genre. The melodies are very appealing and both melody-lines and choruses come close to the sound of Labyrinth's Return To Heaven Denied. The instrumentation is very solid and so are the compositions. The production could have been better and more powerful, but it is absolutely approved.

I find this to be a superb disc with strong melodies throughout. I can do nothing but strongly recommend this disc to all fans of the genre. Remember that the CD will need quite a few spins before the songs really get to you. Secret Sphere does not bring anything new to the scene, but they are undeniably one of the best bands of the genre.

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
Dawn Of Time / Age Of Wizard / Recall Of The Valkyrie / On The Wings of Sun / Twilight Of Fairy Tale / While Lion / Labyrinth Of Glass / Seren / Secret Sphere

Musicians:
Roberto Messina - vocals
Aldo Lonobile - drums - guitars
Paulo Giantotti - guitars
Andrea Buratto - bass
Antonio Agate - keyboards
Luca Cartasegna - drums

Discography:
Mistress Of The Shadowlight (1997)
A Time Never Come (2001)
Scent Of Human Desire (2003)
Heart & Anger (2006)
Sweet Blood Theory (2008)
Archetype (2010)
Portrait Of A Dying Heart (2012)
A Time Never Come - 2015 Edition (2015)
One Night In Tokyo (2016)
The Nature Of Time (2017)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin IT

Added: February 20th 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.secretsphere.com
Hits: 2680
Language: english