Band:	Wizard
Album:	Odin
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	2003
Guest review by:	Bas

01. The Prophecy
02. Betrayer
03. Dead Hope
04. Dark God
05. Loki's Punishment
06. The Beginning Of The End
07. Thor's Hammer
08. Hall Of Odin
09. The Powergod
10. The March Of The Einheriers
11. End Of All
12. Ultimate War [Limited Edition bonus]
13. Golden Dawn [Limited Edition bonus]

Fast paced power metal at its best, good drumming, nice riffs, sparsely used keyboard and awesome vocals. This isn't anything new, special or original, but it isn't supposed to be. This is straightforward in-your-face power metal just like this kind of music should be.

Wizard takes us on a trip to Asgard and its end. Beginning at the betrayal of Loki and the death of Baldur and ending with Ragnarök (and the rebirth of life on the bonus track Golden Dawn) the lyrical aspect of this album is an accurate and interesting journey through Norse mythology. "The gods are dying, the world is crying, this is the end, the end of it all"

Musically Wizard are traditional, albeit faster then usual, power metal, reminding greatly of Manowar, Hammerfall and even Iced Earth on a few tracks. The wide-ranged vocals, the catchy texts, the Rhapsody (Of Fire)-like drumming and the simple, but extremely enjoyable, riffing provide everything such a band needs, but lacks any originality. In the songs there is always a little bit variation the choruses sometimes sounding extremely different from each other. Most of these variations are especially hearable in the singers' voice, which ranges from low parts to high shrieks and reminds greatly of Iced Earths' vocals. Although there is almost always some variation in the song, the songs as a whole mostly sound the same. Some songs, like Dark God and Loki's Punishment, sound a bit darker but the song structures are exactly the same most of the time. Keyboard is almost not used at all, an exception being the final (bonus)track Golden Dawn which is almost only vocals and keyboard.

In my eyes this CD is extremely good, but it is not for everyone, if you always need something different in music and only listen to special and outstanding bands, don't listen to this album, because Wizard isn't one of these bands. If you don't like cheesiness this isn't for you either. If you are a fan of metaphorical and philosophical lyrics, neither can this be found on this album. But if you are a fan of straightforward music, great and varied vocals, catchy riffs and lyrics and power metal in general, you must definitely check it out, because even when considering the missing originality, this album remains a gem in its genre.