Band:	Sunrise
Album:	Equilibria
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	May 25, 2021
A review by:	tominator

01. Wings Of The Dreamer
02. Equilibrium
03. We Are The Fire
04. Wild Swans
05. Call My Name
06. Unbroken Dreams
07. Life Is A Journey
08. The Only Reason
09. The Bridge Across Infinity
10. The Shadow
11. The Bell
12. Nightingale
13. Rebel Yell

Autopilot activated.

Pfew, this one will be difficult to review. It's okay, I guess; I mean, those two words in the introduction sum up what I think of this record: very solid in the way it's made, but quite uninspired. Anyway, let's get a bit more into detail, shall we?

First off, the production: it's good overall. Synthesizer is very prominent in the mix (more on that later), guitars have a good amount of grit to them and the drums sound pretty powerful as well. The different vocals are all layered in perfectly.

Like I mentioned earlier, this record isn't exactly going to win an award for most original album of 2021, and saying that is quite an understatement. Honestly, Equilibria really feels like your run-of-the-mill power metal album. Choruses, song structures, lyrics,? it all sounds like you have heard it before, either from Sunrise itself or from one of the gazillion other power metal bands (in this case most notably Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius) that exist. Ok, that may sound quite harsh, but it's a feeling I can't shake off unfortunately. Now, while this record doesn't seem to go far out of its way to push the boundaries in originality, there are still some good qualities to find here. And I guess, I'm now supposed to give you those?

I will start with something I have already mentioned when I talked about the production: the synthesizer. It's extremely prominent throughout Equilibria and that's a good thing. Not only does it give a bit more personality, but the synthesizer also helps with making some of the choruses a bit more catchy. Also I have been complaining about Equilibria's predictability; however, I would be lying if I said that it's not enjoyable at times. A song like "Equilibrium" is pretty good fun for example. The flow between the different songs is also on point and the same can be said about the length of the individual tracks.

However?

While the length of the songs isn't an issue at all? the amount of them is. We're talking about 13 songs on this album! What's the result? A lot of filler songs, which granted don't take so long that they individually start to bother you, but there are simply too many of those "duds" when listening to the whole experience.

So, all in all, this one didn't really grab my attention in the way I had hoped for. It's well-made music played very competently and with a good production, but at the same time, often quite bland and uninspired. It has its moments here and there, unfortunately though this doesn't really bring anything new to the table and drags on a bit due to its long song list. It plods along well enough at a steady pace without ever really surprising you. That's ok, if you really are a fan of the genre (or the band itself), but for others, I'd say you will probably find something more interesting elsewhere.