Band:	Dark Empire
Album:	Distant Tides
Style:	Progressive power metal
Release date:	2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. We Will Never Die
02. The Alchemist
03. A Soul Divided
04. Distant Tides
05. Northern Sky
06. The Final Vision
07. Eternal Light [bonus]

Matt Moliti is a young American guitarist inspired by a lot of guitar-masters like Michael Romeo. Believe me, this guy, even if he is still young, is a real virtuoso and he evidently decided lately to release an album. The project Dark Empire is born in 2004 and two years later we have the luck to listen to the six tracks of the first album "Distant Tides. If you like Prog/Power with Thrash influences, if you like great guitars lines and solo, don't miss this album please!

Dark Empire is a super mix between the catchy melodies of a Blind Guardian, the power of Heavy/Thrash of Iced Earth and the technicality of the Prog Metal of Symphony X. The result is damn impressive, the six songs are all super catchy and it's really hard to resist to the power of this music, especially if you like the three bands that I named just above. Actually, we can put the Dark Empire in the Power Metal category but evidently there are also a lot of others additions in the music, like the technicality of the guitar for example that remind me Prog or the powerful Heavy/Thrash riffs that really sound "American". No don't worry mates, Dark Empire is powerful and thrashy as hell and they don't sound like some cheesy European Power Metal bands (except maybe on the first track of the CD).

There are only six songs on this album, but still they're all really good and we have the proof on this CD that Matt Moliti is an excellent classy guitarist and compositor. First he is a good player who is able to do some really impressive soli but also, he has an excellent inspiration and the songs of the CD are all really enjoyable. Of course, the musical level of Jens Carlsson (Savage Circus, Persuader) helps a lot and this is the same with Noah Martin (Lilitu) and Teemu Tähkänen but still, all the songs have something special and the fans of the style will love this music.

I have nothing to add, "Distant Tides" is an excellent album and I don't have a lot of reproaches to do except that the first song "We Will Never Die" sounds a bit too much "European Power" for me but this is the only problem really so please have a look on this band that will maybe become an important act of the US Metal scene. "Distant Tides" is one of the first really good surprises of the beginning of the year 2006.