Pandaemonium has been one of my favorite Power Metal bands for quite some time now and do to the fact that there last album was released back in 2005, a new album from them was a big thing for me. I had initially found them through there album "Return To Reality" the first song I herd was "Time of glory" which I had downloaded from the bands website. The bands basic sound is lighter Power Metal with elements of Folk and Classical but the thing that struck me most was the vocalist Daniel Reda who sounds like a zealous phantom, with his voice being both jovial and haunting.
Sadly Reda's voice is greatest area where "The Last Prayer" falls short. Though its not entirely bad as I still like it over many other Power Metal bands vocalist's, it just isn't what it used to be. That being said I would hesitate to recommend it to people unfamiliar to the bands previous works.Though I still think "The Last Prayer" is a great album I would recommend listeners new to the band to check out "...And The Runes Begin To Pray" or "Return To Reality". The second is probably more accessible though if I had to pick a favorite of the three it would be "...And The Runes begin To Pray".
Once I got past the brief disappointment about the vocals I still found "The Last Prayer" to be a solid album. Opposed to the predominantly joyous sounding "Return To Reality", "The Last Prayer" has an overall sound of melancholic desperation. The album has a connecting theme about a Dark Lord bringing forth a new world and an unspecified Hero who is referred to in the first person. I think the lyric's were intentionally left somewhat vague to be open to interpretation, it also helps the songs hold there own when taken out of context of the album. Basically what I got from it was that there is an evil entity reshaping the world. The first part of the album deals with a hero battling against this enemy and eventually the hero believes he defeated the enemy, though it returns as a voice disguised as a holy entity misguiding and corrupting people including the hero throughout the center of the album. Then the last few songs deal with the hero braking away from the evil power and ultimately defeating the Dark Lord and restoring order to the world.
Despite this overall connecting theme the majority of the songs are strong and hold up as individual tracks unlike many concept albums that have several tracks that dont quite hold up on there own when taken out of sequence. The only track like that on the "The Last Prayer" would be the instrumental piece proceeding the final song. Braveheart was probably the least memorable track on the album though for a brief moment at the end of the song Reda's voice almost reaches its past glory. The rest of the album stays with me for days after listening to it and its one of the few albums I purchased this year that I keep coming back too. Now half way into 2012 I have probably listened to this album more then the nine other 2012 albums I picked up put together. Despite the flaws "The Last Prayer" still holds up as solid Power Metal album that I greatly enjoyed.
(I give "The Last Prayer" a 5 out of 5.)
