Band:	In Vain (ESP)
Album:	Of Gods And Men
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	2009
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Hero
02. My Little Butterfly
03. Rotten Cross
04. Lightning Rider
05. Dancing In The Light
06. Hellhounds
07. Devil Is My Witness
08. Black Sands

*Yawn* More generic power metal? Do we seriously need more? Apparently we do, according to In Vain (try searching that band name and narrow it down to 4 power metal bands - good luck.) Finland has done it, Germany has done it, Italy has done it, now apparently it's Spain's turn to step up to the generic power metal plate. So before we continue: Yes, their music is as uninspired as their name.

The intro gives us the false impression that what we're in for is an intense, blistering, pure metal album full of top notch musicians; opening with a mind blowing scream held for what seems to be ages, laid over top a pretty good melody...Then everything turns to shit. The most noticeable set back about Of Gods And Men (bland song writing aside), is the production. The instruments are well balanced out, but in a very condensed, flat recording quality the vocals come through, smothering everything, and it immediately sounds like power metal karaoke. This horrible vocal quality acts as a lose-lose for the band; the vocalist manages to mispronounce every word in the English language, which emphasizes the dominance of the vocal tracking. The dominant vocal tracking emphasizes the man's weak grasp upon the language - vicious circle, basically.

But what's a power metal album without the over-the-top, epic melodies? Not a power metal album, actually. Combine a dash of Firewind with a sprinkle of Edguy, spread a few thrash rhythm section in between and what you've got is the same shit, different pile. Relatively speaking there's worse bands out there, in fact, the music itself isn't all that terrible, just completely overdone.

Admittedly there is a few enjoyable parts scattered throughout the album, there is some undeniable potential, but first In Vain needs to get some shit in order. A) Sing in their native language instead of making a failed attempt at English, B) Make an attempt at doing something at least a little bit fresh, and C) Mix their damn albums properly.