Band:	Helker
Album:	Somewhere In The Circle
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	February 2013

01. Modern Roman Circus
02. Just Be Yourself
03. No Chance To Be Reborn
04. Begging For Forgiveness
05. Wake Up
06. At The End Of The Journey
07. Ghosts From The Past
08. Still Alive
09. Flying
10. Inside Of Me
11. Dreams

Somewhere In The Circle may sound like a posthumous Dio album but Helker perform with a sound consistency on this release. The influence of the late Ronnie James in this Argentine band's sound is obvious and for this reason I find myself naturally enjoying what is a strong if unoriginal set of heavy metal numbers.

Their vocalist Diego Valdez clearly has no issue with the uncanny resemblance, but then who in their right mind wouldn't want to carry such a voice? And I would be remiss to suggest he doesn't know how to make use of it as Valdez uses that similarity of singing style in an environment perfectly suitable which is a hybrid of heavy and power metal. This album is also their English debut with the lyrics for their prior releases being written in Spanish.

Somewhere In The Circle is a satisfying heavy metal output with all the essentials and it has just enough dynamism to keep things moving. With the guitars balanced superbly across the able bodied drum work each track hits heavily even as the album edges closer to power metal at various points such as the closer "Dreams", giving Valdez a chance to exercise some variance with the aid of guest performances from Ralf Scheepers and Tim "Ripper" Owens on "Begging For Forgiveness." Mostly chock full of mid-pacers, save the ballad "Flying," it's well written even if it suffers from a lack of notable features. The style here, however, isn't as remarkable as the performance as Helker tread too closely to a familiar beat.

The lack of high flying cuts has more to do with the consistency than any notable deficiencies in the album's overall sound and production. None of the tracks deviate far from the norm and as a result don't live long enough in the memory.

While this kind of heavy metal doesn't distance itself in compositional identity it does offer obviously seasoned musicianship. If you don't mind forsaking originality then Helker continue well under the inspirational guidance of Dio.