Band:	Astral Doors
Album:	Astralism
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. EVP
02. Black Rain
03. London Caves
04. From Satan With Love
05. Fire In Our House
06. Israel
07. Raiders Of The Ark
08. Tears Of A Titan
09. Oliver Twist
10. Vendetta
11. The Green Mile
12. In Rock We Trust
13. Apocalypse Reavealed

Damn, Astral Doors seems to be a productive band becaus "Astralism" their last release is already their 3rd one, three years only after the release of the excellent "Of The Son And Father". But hey is it a real problem if it's good? Of course it's not a problem and one more time the Swedish combo delivers a real classy 70's "Hard Rock-Heavy". "Astralism" is maybe not my favorite album of the band but still you can believe that it is solid as rock?

Well don't expect a lot of changes on this album. Astral Doors found a nice way to play music and they still do it. If you don't know the band, you must know that Astral Doors is the worthy successor of Rainbow, Sabbath and many others bands from the 70's. Full of Hammond organ, hyper melodic and catchy, the music of Astral Doors is like a modern aspect of a music that was (and is) so influential for a lot of Metal bands. Really if you like old scholl Hard Rock, you will have to check this album because it's full of good thing. Plus, Patrik Johansson is an amazing singer with a voice a la Dio. Better and better after each releases, his is without any doubt the strong point of Astral Doors and I'm sure that you'll be surprised by the quality of his vocals.

But if "Astralism" is a really nice album, if you already know the two precedents albums, I'm quite sure that you won't have a lot of surprises. The songs are not really new, this is always the same, good, music but it's not so original this time. Plus it's really overproduced so it's maybe a bit "too much". Don't worry anyway if you're a fan of the first albums, you'll still like Astral Doors and the ones who still don't know this great band will enjoy their new album but I just hope that they will take some risks for their future release.

If you like old school music or just nice melodic Heavy Metal, I recommend "Astralism". It's a good and solid release, not so innovative maybe, but interesting and beautiful, so please don't miss it, especially if you like amazing vocalists.