Band:	Excalion
Album:	Primal Exhale
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	May 17, 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. Temptation Wasteland
02. A Moment In The Spotlight
03. Reality Bends
04. Dire Waters
05. Stage Of Lies
06. Heart And Home
07. Megalomania
08. My Legacy
09. Obsession To Prosper

Excallion is one of the last signatures of the Brazilian/Portuguese label Sound Riot. If you like Finnish Power you should have a look on this really correct album that only suffers actually of a real lack of personality and originality. The die hard fans of the style will enjoy this release, the others (like me) will probably regret that we can't find a lot of new things on the album?

Musically speaking it's obvious that Excalion surfs on the wave of some famous Power Metal band from Finland like Sonata Arctica and even Nightwish (without the female vocals evidently). With Catchy melodies, "friendly" choruses, some symphonic melodies and a lot of keyboards, well it really sounds "Finnish" yes. It's not a bad thing especially when you know how to produce a good music in the vein of those two leaders of the scene, and this is the case of Excallion but however this is not a mark of originality because there is a lot of similar bands and at the end "only the strong will survive". Yes, really the musicians of this band are good, the voice of the singer sounds good too and one can't say that the melodies and the songs aren't entertaining but I heard something like that 10000? before.

The production is really good and the lyrics are ok. We can't find a lot of bad points on "Primal Exhale" but still I say it again if the band doesn't want to be compared to some others famous Finnish bands, if they want to be respected in the future, they will have to show us later that they have some more personality because iunfortunately t's not the case now. However remember that it is only the first album and this kind of "similarities" is understandable and plus it will probably change with time. Let's hope that we will know how to surprise us with their 2nd album.

You see, if you are a real fan of Sonata Arctica you should have a look on this album you won't be disappointed, on the other hand and personally I hope that Excalion will show us in the future that they can produce original things. If they can find the magical recipe believe me that it will be ok for them because they have a strong potential, but if they don't... Time will speak?