Band:	Excalion
Album:	Waterlines
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	February 21, 2007
Guest review by:	-Mayhem-

01. Wingman
02. Life On Fire
03. Losing Time
04. Ivory Tower
05. I Failed You
06. Arriving As The Dark
07. Streams Of Madness
08. Delta Sunrise
09. Between The lines
10. Soaking Ground
11. Yövartio [Finnish version] [European bonus]
12. Access Denied [Japanese bonus]

A small Finnish melodic metal band Excalion released their second full-length album called Waterlines in 2007. Their debut Primal Exhale had lots of potential but many of the song structures were way too ambitious. Waterlines, however, brings on the band's very own style and sound better than ever before

Waterlines is a really fine album that improved everything that Primal Exhale lacked while keeping its good sides. The performance has taken huge steps forward and technically the album is successful. The new guitarist Vesa Nupponen proves his skills by delivering some nice solos and solid overall guitar work. Vocalist Jarmo Pääkkönen also succeeds by reaching some great high notes. Also all of the unclear pronunciation is gone. The whole band performs a lot better with this new lineup.

Many of the songs are keyboard driven but not as dominantly as before which is a good thing as the guitar solos work well. The songs have quite a variety and there are not even two songs on the album similar to each other. The album flows well and smoothly in every point of the album and the songs have good variety in structure plus there are plenty of nice catchy melodies too. Memorable choruses are numberous and there is also a big bunch of interesting solos but there is a downside as well, namely, the album displays very typical melodic metal. There are many bands with quite similar work. Excalion has its personal sound but the album is still something some people might consider too typical.

The band along with the producer Arttu Sarvanne have done a great job with the production as the sound is as clear as it gets and fits the album perfectly. Seems like it paid off to have a producer they are familiar with since it seems that the co-operation worked well. The album serves a lot of highlights due to its stableness. From the first moment onwards the listener can really get a taste of their energetic music as "The Wingman" opens the album. My personal favourite is the emotional closer "Soaking Ground" along with its breathtaking chorus and stunning key solo in the middle.
The album leaves me always in a very nice positive mood and is also very easy to pick up and listen to it over and over again without any risk of it becoming boring.
It is almost a perfect masterpiece and a true high quality package of melodic metal that can be recommended to all fans of Finnish power metal. Nevertheless, the band hasn't unleashed its true potential and I think it is safe to say they have several good albums coming out in the future too.
Actually almost any fan of bands like Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica should enjoy this album or at least give it a try.