"Sign of the winner" CD by Heavenly

by Lothar Landt (null) Already with the first tunes of their opener "Break the silence" it was clear that Heavenly delivered a great album. The lead guitar regular reminds of Yngwie Malmsteen in his early days (also soundwise) while the vocals are similar to those of Michael Kiske at Helloween-times. The influence that once Helloween and later also Gamma Ray had on the European Metal-scene is really impressive, but that should only be mentioned marginally here. And of course, the songwriting of Heavenly is fitting so that the band did a major step already with their second album (debut: "Coming from the sky"). "Destiny" is stamped by Great breaks, fast and melodic guitars plus fat double-bass-drum power and despite its six and a half minutes never gets boring. In the title track, these trademarks are furtehr enriched by skilful choir-vocals - Heavenly have great abilities in setting their songs to scene, slowly build them up without becoming too long. "Sign of the winner" for me is a little Melodic Metal highlight! The album is one entity, is full of good compositions and catches the listener!