Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There must be a point at some juncture in Time when the world of Heavy Rock and Metal finally submits to the glaringly obvious statements of intent coming out of the Scandinavian heartlands, the declarations of musical war that beat louder than the wagging tongue of boastful Beowulf as he finds yet another demon spawned monster in which to take on and add to his collection. That the northern European search for distinction in the genre is quite simply at its absolute height of its power, it reigns supreme not through accident or the unwilling of those from other countries to topple it but because it is so infectiously demanding upon the conscious of the adoring fan.