Ivory
Southern Cross

This I just have to review! That is what I thought when I received a news article about this band and saw the really cool cover art. Eventually I got the album and now I have soon reviewed it as well. Belarus and symphonic power metal are things I didn’t see as very synonymous but these guys make such music and they make it well.

What they don’t do is make it particularly original; it feels like it has been done many times before. But the concept centred on Robert Scott’s expedition to the South Pole is an interesting story and they tell it well. They even tell the story in both Russian and English, and you get it in both languages if you buy the digipak CD. I have not heard the Russian version but the vocalist does pretty well in English, a lot better than most of his Italian or Spanish counterparts.

Good sound and production and exciting story told in good songs, what more could you want? Originality for one thing, amazing music for another thing, nevertheless I still find it a nice album to listen to and I like it. Almost (but not quite) as exciting as it looks, and it is also great to hear from some different nations that what we are used to but it is a little shame that they are not more different from what we are used to.

In the end I think that Ivory does very well, their debut album is very good and they show promise of greatness. Track four and track nine are some real highlight that shows a lot more promise than what the band actually delivers and I believe that with a slightly more individual sound this band will become very exciting. Southern Cross is good but not creatively interesting or fantastic enough to be great.

HHHHHHH