Band:	Dark Moor
Album:	Beyond The Sea
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	March 04, 2005
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Before The Duel
02. Miracles
03. Houdini's Great Escapade
04. Through The Gates Of The Silver Key (Interlude)
05. The Silver Key
06. Green Eyes
07. Going On
08. Beyond The Sea
09. Iulius Caesar (Interlude)
10. Alea Jacta
11. Vivaldi's Winter [bonus]
12. Innocence [Japanese bonus]
13. The Sea [bonus]
14. The Mysterious Maiden [bonus]

Spain's largest Metal act, Dark Moor, returns with their sixth full-length album, their second after the big departure, when half the band left and created a new band, Dreamaker, and among them one of Dark Moor's largest hallmarks, the female vocalist Elisa C. Martin.
But when Dark Moor returned with the new and young male vocalist Alfred Romero and released the self-titled album "Dark Moor", all my doubts vanished; I knew that Dark Moor would live on even without Elisa behind the microphone.

I also remember that I really loved "Dark Moor" and gave it a high mark, and that's something I still stands for today, that album is amazing.
So you can only guess how high my expectations was before I received this album.
Plus that a lot of members has come and go lately, the last was guitarist Jose Garrido (Arwen) and original bassist Anan Kaddouri.

Now Dark Moor is just a four-piece band, since the only remaining original member and band leader Enrik decided that he would be the only guitarist, and new bassist Daniel Fernandez joined.
And that's the members that recorded this new album, and even if my expectations was high, I also feared that this wouldn't be as good, just because all members changes and since the last album was so good.

And when I then putted the album in my player and pressed play, and the first song "Before the Duel" started, I wasn't really that impressed, and drew preconceived conclusion that this album was a flop.
But after hearing the whole album I understood that I wouldn't have lost faith in Enrik, he surely knows how the write good songs, even if "Before the Duel" is very mediocre at first (but it grows), and damn Alfred is an amazing singer.

But it has happened stuff to Dark Moor, whatever you like it or not. The decision to go with just one guitarist is audible, the riffing gets a bit rigid, but it's not making the album less good.
And second I think the music is less symphonic now, sure it's symphonic Power yet, but it's not as present as before, Dark Moor now moving against a harder sound, if that's good or not I can't say, but the "harder" parts isn't bad at all.

There are actually some songs I would like to say a few words about, some thing I think is more "visible" than the rest.
First of all you have my favourite song, "The Silver Key", that's in many parts a very usual Dark Moor song, here you'll get a song that's changes between up-tempo and mid-tempo and has a great melody with great chorus and music. It has a perfect dose of Symphonic touches and it also actually contains from growling voices (First time in Dark Moor, right?).

Then we have "Going on" that I first almost thought was an Iron Maiden cover, the riffing in the beginning is so much Maiden. But it's also just the guitars that sometimes makes Maiden present in my mind; otherwise the song is one more, pretty usual, Dark Moor song, a good one though.

And last I would like to say a few words about the ballad "Green Eyes" that I think is a pretty descent ballad, even if I had hard to keep my laughter away when Alfred sung a part of the song and sounded so funny, his voice actually "breaks" and it almost sounds false, but it's funny in some strange way, hehe.

The new Dark Moor is still developing, and where it will end I don't know, but as long Enrik goes on writing good songs and Alfred is singing as good as he does, I'm not afraid.
And even if "Beyond the Sea" isn't as good as "Dark Moor", it's still a very good album, and it beats many of competing bands on the market. One thing is for sure; with Dark Moor you'll get quality, always.

I'll stop nagging about everything now, but I'll conclude it all for you.
"Beyond the Sea" is the second album with the "new" Dark Moor, and even if it's not as good as the first, it's still way much better than the regular Power on the market.
With just four members and a less symphonic sound, Dark Moor is heading towards harder territories, if it's permanent or now I don't know, but it's not bad.
So if you liked "Dark Moor" and Dark Moor with Alfred, then this is a safe buy for you, you'll get all the usual Dark Moor but still something new all the time, Dark Moor never repeated themselves over and over again.

Check Out: "Miracles", "The Silver Key" & "Beyond the Sea".