J-Man
Featuring members of Arryan Path and Prodigal Earth, Cyprian power metal act Astronomikon should contain some familiar faces for anybody acquainted with this small Mediterranean island's metal scene. With their debut offering, Astronomikon has also crafted some pretty impressive power metal as a collective; 2013's Dark Gorgon Rising is a strong entrance statement, and its massive choruses, mid-tempo riffs, and epic keyboard tones are likely to win over most power metal listeners.
Astronomikon's music is fairly traditional sounding European power metal with a strong emphasis on melodic hooks and catchy choruses. Dark Gorgon Rising is not a particularly challenging listen, but its memorable melodies, impressive guitar leads, and ventures into heavy-edged US power metal territory make for an enjoyable experience. Even though the choruses and keyboard tones may bring a band like Rhapsody of Fire to mind, a majority of the tunes here feature mid-tempo riffs reminiscent of traditional heavy metal and American power metal, rather than the speedier riffs often found in European power metal. This largely prevents Dark Gorgon Rising from sounding too cheesy, and whilst some of the choruses and lyrics are too bombastic for their own good, Astronomikon maintains a reasonable level of power metal cheese without ever going overboard.
Astronomikon's finest asset perhaps lies in Nicholas Leptos's powerful vocal performance; some of the melodies here come across as rather bland to my ears, but Nicholas still does a tremendous job delivering them with power and conviction. Apart from the vocals, Dark Gorgon Rising is a pretty standard-fare power metal release, although that isn't always a bad thing when we're talking about an album as well-executed as this one. A strong, if rather unadventurous, debut observation, Dark Gorgon Rising is one to definitely check out if you enjoy power metal.