Label: Pure Legend Records 2014
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
Even though 2015 has only just begun, the first contender for the title of ”The Best Melodic Metal album” has arrived! The second Stargazery album is going to be ”the one to beat” for the rest of the this year’s releases…
”Stars Aligned” is full of melodic metal anthems, with the emphasis on ”melodic”. Guitarist/songwriter Pete Ahonen has made sure that the choruses are big and catchy, and vocalist Jari Tiura’s slightly operatic style suits these grand melodies to a tee. The overall sound of the album is BIG too, with plenty of keyboards adding nice melodic touches to the songs.
Songs like ”Voodoo”, ”Missed The Train To Paradise” and ”Painted Into A Corner” are among the better melodic metal tracks I’ve heard in a while. For comparison, I’d say that the album has some similarities to Yngwie Malmsteen’s ”golden era”, which for me means the albums ”Trilogy”, ”Odyssey” and ”Eclipse”.
Even though most of the band’s self-penned songs are better, I guess their best bet for getting a radio hit from this album is the Cher cover ”Dark Lady”. The band has ”metalized” that 70ies hit and it works beautifully. They’ve even recorded it in Finnish too, which could be their ticket to those domestic channels that only play Finnish music. If it opens some new doors, I say ”go for it”…
Apart from a couple of less exciting songs (the bluesy ”Hiding” and ”Warrior’s Inn” don’t do it for me), this is a fantastic slice of melodic metal. Four very strong ”R’s”.
http://www.stargazery.com
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