German power metal - there are many bands that fit into this category, but most of them follow the paths of the local big names of the scene: Helloween, Gamma Ray, Running Wild, and maybe Grave Digger or the legendary Accept. Mystic Prophecy though have been a band with a "little difference" right from the start. The three albums by the band so far - Vengeance (2002), Regressus (2003) and Never-Ending (2004), also included some German metal influences but are way more orientated towards an international sound. US power metal bands like Iced Earth can be named as a comparison.

This was a wise decision by the band who have in the meantime established an almost unique sound and category which is consequently followed on Savage Souls. "We have kept our roots and everybody who heard the album yet, recognizes it as Mystic Prophecy immediately", says the outstanding Greek vocalist R.D. "Lia" Liapakis with strong and well deserved confidence, Savage Souls has a great range of varieties, sounds updated and the songs are all darker and more aggressive. We still have a melodic edge though without being cheesy at all, all in all we are still real METAL!". The fact that Mystic Prophecy were able to establish and even improve their level is not the most usually thing - facing the fact that there was a lot of stress going on in the last months: guitarist Gus G. left Lia and the others some time ago to concentrate on his other band Firewind. Although the split was done in a friendly and both sided manner it was not easy to find a replacement. But Mystic Prophecy never hesitated for a second and chose a new double-axe department: the two new guitarists are Markus Pohl (known from Symphorce; and longer part of the live line-up of Mystic Prophecy) and Martin Grimm (Headstone Epitaph).

In addition drummer Dennis Ekdahl was more and more busy with his other band Raise Hell and also left. New drummer is Matthias Straub from Sacred Steel after Klaus Sperling from My Darkest Hate was a member of the band for a while. The album was recorded and mastered at "Music Factory Studio" by Lia while the excellent mix was done by Fredrik Nordström, whose Fredman Studio is one of the top studios in Europe for years now. "We wanted to try something new" Lia explains, "I think the result is a very good bridge between classical stuff and modern metal like Nevermore play these days". The songs on the album were written by the complete band this time. It is great to see, how well Markus Pohl and Martin Grimm have been involved in the band. "Both know right from the start how Mystic Prophecy have to sound, so they played the perfect way and our special flair remained" says Lia proudly after the confusions in the line up left their marks. "Savage Souls turned out a little more depressive, as we had quite a lot of stress and problems with the many line-up changes. But the hard work paid off: the band never sounded that heavy and aggressive. Accordingly the lyrics don't follow a concept as the previous albums but refer to environment, polictics and religion - and surely a lot of personal stuff, which needs to be reflected when things don't turn our that well". The things will turn very well again at the latest when Savage Souls is released! Even strict journalists or the writers with the "I heard this all before"-attitude will have to accept one fact: Mystic Prophecy are one of the leading German , if not European, bands in their genre and will break through now with their fourth album. Savage Souls is a definite highlight!


(Source: Official site)