Band:	Pathfinder
Album:	Beyond The Space, Beyond The Time
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	August 2010
A review by:	Ernis

01. Deep Into The Dakrness Peering...
    1 - REM Stage
    2 - Coma
    3 - Journey
02. The Whisper Of Ancient Rocks
03. Vita Reducta: Through The Portal
04. Pathway To The Moon
05. All The Mornings Of The World
06. The Demon Awakens
07. Undiscovered Dreams
08. The Lord Of Wolves
09. Sons Of Immortal Fire
10. Stardust
11. Dance Of Flames
12. To The Island Of Immortal Fire
13. Beyond The Space, Beyond The Time
14. What If...
15. Forever Young [Alphaville cover] [Japanese bonus]

Power metal children, come here, the food's ready! So what's for today? Beyond The Space Beyond The Time is. This is a long, elaborate and refined power metal release by a Polish act Pathfinder who have been around since 2006. This one is their first full length release. And for a first release, one has to admit, this is a long and complex album. For that, the band has done an impressive job. The musicians have not just tried to surprise the audiences with a mere debut album but a masterpiece at once.

This release is a classic power metal release heavily loaded with symphonic instrumental elements, fast guitar solos, choirs, clean and clear male vocals, power metal screams and last but not least, female operatic vocals. The standards are set even higher since the special guests Roberto Tiranti from Labyrinth, Michal Jelonek fom Hunter, Matias Kupiainen from Stratovarius and Bob Katsionis from Firewind all add their touch to this enormous symphonic musical painting. The compositions are grand and show professional level on a large scale. Elements from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" add a lot to the classical romantic style of the release. The vocalists do a fine job, there is the main male singer who doesn't use that much cliché squealing as some power metal singers tend to do but performs with his natural clear and strong voice and the atmosphere would not be the same without the band's special "Moonlight" choir led by the operatic vocalist Agata.

Therefore, the positive sides of the album lie in its composition and beautiful musical moments that are present all around. The negative side might be that the band might balance on the borders of the "cliché flower metal" category. Then again, the dreamy fantasy lovers will surely adore the style. Another minus might be that the album is not an easy nut to crack and requires many listens to get familiar with, to find all the bright pearls amidst the songs for the album flows constantly onwards and some among the audience might get lost among the complexity.

The best examples from this album would be the introduction with "The Whisper Of Ancient Rocks", the two following tracks based on Beethoven's music and "All The Mornings Of The World". Noteworthy is also the pleasant tune of "Dance Of Flames" and nobody could ever miss the title track which solemnly concludes the entire album. This is a large and tasty dish from the power metal kitchen which will satisfy the appetite of any listener who appreciates some symphonic power on their table.