How did this one elude us? Released in Fall 2004, the second album from Finland's Silent Voices is loads more aggressive and engaging than the band's bloated and boring 2002 debut, Chapters of Tragedy. Look beyond Infernal's gloomy and gothy cover and you'll find a band that takes the sounds nearly perfected by Dream Theater, Symphony X and Rush, carves them into a huge wall of sound and then proceeds to topple that wall with its own mighty headbanging. Sure, at least two of these eight songs ("New World Order" and the thrashy "Disease: Man") could be deemed cliché power metal, but the soaring opener "End of Days," the epic three-part closer "Avalon" and "Infernal Mind" (featuring Timo Kauppinn's dazzling guitar playing) mix well with heavy melodies and fast rhythms - loudly landing this new and improved version of Silent Voices somewhere solidly in between power metal and progressive metal. Unfortunately, Infernal only runs 43 minutes. How many times can you actually say that a new progressive/power-metal release isn't long enough?
Track Listing:
1) End of Days (5:14)
2) On the Wings of Rage (5:04)
3) Infernal Mind (4:15)
4) Fate Divided (8:57)
5) New World Order (3:59)
6) Disease: Man (3:50)
7) Prelude - The Spirit of Avalon (1:30)
8) Avalon (10:31)
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