With roots reaching back to the late Eighties, it's no wonder that Australia's Dungeon packs a classic-sounding wallop with a combination of aggressive speed and power metal that recalls Helloween, Blind Guardian, Judas Priest and, at least for brief moments, even Dokken and Slayer. Led by vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist "Lord" Tim Grose (often referred to as the "Kai Hansen of the Oz metal scene"), this quartet with a dual-guitar attack has its collective fingers on a melodic pulse that alternately quickens and slows depending on the needs of a particular song.
While some of the tunes on One Step Beyond, Dungeon's latest disc, are plain ferocious ("The Art of War," the title track), others begin almost as if they were ballads but then blow up into full-fledged stompers ("The Hunger," "Under the Cross"). A few more songs could have used hooks similar to those found in "Tarranno del Mar," "Against the Wind" and "The Power Within," but the album still manages to prove that this Dungeon ain't such a bad place.
(A limited edition of One Step Beyond comes with two previously unreleased bonus tracks, a video clip and a DVD with a running time of 138 minutes that includes a live performance and documentary. It sure would be cool to see that one ... )
Track Listing:
1) The Power Within
2) Tarranno Del Mar
3) One Step Beyond
4) Against the Wind
5) The Art of War
6) The Hunger
7) Surface Tension
8) Under the Cross
9) Epilogue
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