Royal Hunt: 20th Anniversary Special Edition (3CD/DVD)

2013 marks the 20th Anniversary of melodic & symphonic progressive/power metal veterans Royal Hunt, so why not celebrate with a fully packed 'best of collection' that pulls some of their highighted material from all their studio albums, a few acoustic versions, a newly recorded song, and a DVD of all their promotional videos. It's quite the package they've put together for this 20th Anniversary Special Edition, especially for those who maybe have only briefly experienced the bands music or perhaps not at all, as the 3 CDs of music contains more than a strong sampling of some of their best songs from throughout their career.

The brains behind this outfit, keyboard player Andre Anderssen, has been the one constant throughout many years of line-up changes, but most of the attention has always gone to vocalist D.C. Cooper, who has also come and gone a few times (he's currently back in the band once again), but they've had other notable singers spending time in the band such as John West (Artension) and Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, Uli Roth). This collection includes such enjoyable tracks as "Cold City Lights", "Clown in the Mirror", "Follow Me", "Wasted Time", "Flight", "Tears of the Sun", "Kingdom Dark", "One By One", and the always engaging "The Mission" among many other gems. The new track "Save Me" is somewhat of a departure for the band, with a slight bluesy feel that plays down their normal symphonic sound, but it's still Royal Hunt. Regardless of what era the song comes from, you can always expect soaring melodies, bombastic keyboards, crisp guitar work, and tight rhythms.

As we didn't have access to the DVD for this review I can't comment on that, but for the longtime fans it would surely be great to have all the bands videos on one disc. As an anniversary set this is a real good one, and a great way to celebrate a band that has been delivering quality music for two decades now.

Track Listing
CD 1:

1. 'Flight'
2. 'Kingdom Dark'
3. 'Stranded'
4. 'Clown In The Mirror'
5. 'Wasted Time'
6. 'Epilogue'
7. 'Time'
8. 'Far Away'
9. '1348'
10. 'River Of Pain'
11. 'Tearing Down The World'
12. 'Message To God'

CD 2:

1. 'Cold City Lights'
2. 'Follow Me'
3. 'Surrender'
4. 'The Mission'
5. 'Can't Let Go'
6. 'Paper Blood'
7. 'Season's Change'
8. 'The First Rock'
9. 'Tears Of The Sun'
10. 'The Well'
11. 'Shadowman'
12. 'Hard Rain´s Coming'
13. 'Half Past Loneliness'

CD 3:

1. 'Save Me' (new song)
2. 'One By One' (unplugged)
3. 'Bodyguard' (unplugged)
4. 'Restless' (unplugged)
5. 'Bad Luck'
6. 'Double Conversion'
7. 'U-turn'
8. 'Sixth Sense'
9. 'Day Is Dawning'

DVD:

1. 'Land Of Broken Hearts'
2. 'Day In Day Out'
3. 'Clown In The Mirror'
4. 'Far Away'
5. 'Last Goodbye'
6. 'Stay Down'
7. 'River Of Pain'
8. 'Tearing Down The World'
9. 'Martial Arts'
10. 'Third Stage'
11. 'Wasted Time'
12. 'Message To God'

Added: March 2nd 2013
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2420
Language: english

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