Being a true music fan isn't black and white. No matter how much you pretend to be all about CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and the JOHN CALE box set, there's always that guilty pleasure stuff. You know you love it. For me, it's 80s metal stuff like DIO's 'Rainbow in the Dark" and ACCEPT's 'Princess of the Dawn", y'know? It's just so damned catchy, and the guitar licks are so impressive. How about that whole GARY MOORE album, "Corridors of Power"? Flashy guitar, lots of hooks, and kinda silly lyrics. You can see where I'm going with this. I absolutely loved this thing. I think I liked it a little too much. But, what's wrong with a little cheese? According to the USDA the average person in the United States consumes over 30 lbs of cheese per year. This amount is actually expected to go up, not down in the next few years. I mean, sometimes when my wife drags me to a function with her family or friends, I'll park myself over by that yummy hot pepper cheese and just go to town on it. That's kind of what I did here with this release from Sweden's CRYSTAL EYES.

This band has been together since 1991 and this is their fourth album. To say that they possess the tightness of a veteran metal band would be an understatement. It has all the charm and songwriting hooks of the stuff I mentioned above. I actually had to reevaluate my oft-stated opinion that the 'national anthem" aspect of power metal is nothing more than a trite, overdone HELLOWEEN imitation. This CRYSTAL EYES CD is loaded with such vocals. And it kicks major tail. See, I need to re-examine my outlook on this type of thing.

Just about every song on this thing just pulled me right in. The back-and-forth guitar frenzy between Mikael Dahl and Jonathan Nyberg is superb. The obvious influence on the solo style is old school Kirk Hammett. You know, those ripping solos he used to play when you still gave a shit about the Frisco boys. The tune here that just kept bringing me back was "The Wizard's Apprentice", which sports blazing lead work that calls to mind fine Kirk moments like "Whiplash" and "One". Just the right pepper and spice to go with your cheese. Seriously, I'm listening to this thing the first time, and marveling at how delightful it is. Then I think, "It's only real old school if it has the word 'heavy metal' in the choruses", like those old SAXON and HELLOWEEN records. Then, sure enough, track # 7, "Metal Crusade" lays down the law:

"Heavy Metal - is our ground, Heavy Metal - is our sound!"

At that point, I knew there was no turning back. And with each spin I liked it more and more. The disc has recently seen a North American re-release on the Neoblast label, so order your copy today along with some tasty crackers. It's as much fun as taking hits of Cheese Whiz right out of the can. Remember doing that? Yeah, I know you did.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.crystaleyes.net

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