Join Twilight Force, young girls and boys, on this great quest! Together with brethren such as Gloryhammer and Fairyland, they will defend the Twilight Kingdom against the dark lords of serious metal! Ride with our heroes on colorful dragons to the barren lands of evil, harsh metals, and battle the enemy with weapons such as sing-a-long choruses, lush orchestrations, and pure happiness! The quest will be long, exactly 12 tracks, but the energy will remain high with catchy tune after catchy tune to inspire your fellowship. Grab your enchanted sword, head to the wizard for blessings of mighty magic; we ride at sunrise. (Must provide own sword and unicorn.)
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I'm sure I read the above text on a scroll pinned to a tree in Sherwood Forest...
Anyway, this record is solid. Solid as a block of aged white cheddar. The expensive kind. Yes, the cheese metaphors have begun. This is one of the most deliciously cheesy power metal albums I've heard in some time, and hope all you lasses and lads will join Twilight Force on the quest and whatnot.
Musically, keyboards and orchestrations lead the way through each song and the compositions all around remain interesting and exciting, track after track. Genre metal it may be but drag it does not! There is a lead vocalist but you sometimes wouldn't know it because of all the sing-a-long choruses. Nonetheless, the vocal solos are very good; Chrileon has solid skills all around and we mostly hear his great middle-upper range. Guest vocalists Fabio Lione and Joakim Brodén each appear on one of the 10-minute epics to help fight the forces of evil.
It's not all rainbows and fairies (I mean, come on, it mostly is). The production is not as clear as it could be and some tracks feel a bit muddy, especially related to the rhythm section, though all instruments suffer a bit. I may not have realized there were 2 guitars just from listening. This is slight, however; it's less a fault and more a place where this record could have just been even better than it is. Beware also the 6+ minute track entitled "Epilogue" which is a narration related to the story. Yes, six and a half minutes of an actor's monologue. No music. Thankfully it's the penultimate track and if you loathe spoken dialogue in your metal like some of us do, it's easy to skip and focus solely on the glorious, glorious music.
01. Battle Of Arcane Might
02. Powerwind
03. Guardian Of The Seas
04. Flight Of The Sapphire Dragon
05. There And Back Again [feat. Fabio Lione]
06. Riders Of The Dawn
07. Keepers Of Fate
08. Rise Of A Hero
09. To The Stars
10. Heroes Of Mighty Magic [feat. Joakim Brodén]
11. Epilogue
12. Knights Of Twilight's Might
