1967/ 1976
Sons of Rainbow the Danish band Royal Hunt is led by the extreme talent of the Russian keyboard wizard Andre Andersen, is an extreme interesting Tech Metal/ Melodic Symphonic Speed Prog Metal band. This 'Land Of Broken Hearts' is the 1st Royal Hunt studio album.
In this moment my CD player plays 'Age Gone Wild', a great Neoclassical power ballad but the previous song is 'Flight', a Power Speed song and another previous song is 'Easy Rider' a Power metal song. Said this what is the correct style of Royal Hunt? Maybe a sort of Neoclassical keyboard led Extreme Melodic Speed Power Symphonic Prog Metal? Well... (I'm embarassed)... Yes! Certainly, since Andre Anderson plays also the guitar this album have also great guitar parts. Evident the great voice of Henrik Brockman is more a Hard Rock voice and this is noticeable in 'One By One', a typical 80's USA Street/ Glam Metal song. 'Land Of Broken hearts' is not a pure Prog Metal album. The guitar parts are typically Prog Metal but the song are good examples of J.L. Turner Rainbow era style with more synths. This fact is not a defect because, I believe, the inclusion of parts 100% Power Mmetal or Speed Metal teach us that we are all debtors of the past and that if read correctly can be the subject of innovation (see 'Land Of Broken Hearts', a 100% J.L. Turner Rainbow era song [ballad] but 100% Prog Metal). But... For those who are advised to listen to an album of this kind? Well... For all who love Melodic Prog Metal, for who love AOR, for who love bands as Asia, Rainbow, Magnum. And in this sense I recommended the album versions with bonus tracks. In the re-released (with bonus tracks) are good 'Stranded' but magical are the acoustic versions of the same 'Stranded', 'Land Of Broken Hearts' and 'Age Gone Wild'.
In definitive if you love Neoclassical Extreme Melodic Speed Power Symphonic Prog Metal or simply bands like this or Angra or Narnia or Asia or Rainbow or Magnum, Royal Hunt is another great band for you and this 'Land Of Broken Hearts' well be an album that surely you love. All the songs are good and magical. Because Royal Hunt is a magical band.