No More Hollywood Endings

This is the fifth album by the band from Helsinki, released by Nuclear Blast on 22 March 2019. The line-up is Juuso Soinio on guitar, Eero Sipila on bass, Janne Bjorkroth on keyboards, Pyry Vikki on drums and Noora Louhimo singing, and it is the second record made after Anton Kabanen, who had been the centre of the early band, left. That change is audible. Bjorkroth's keyboards and orchestral arrangements come to the front and carry the music close to 1980s arena rock and film score. The first half, from "Unbroken" through the title track into "Eden", pushes on melody and changes of scene rather than weight, and "I Wish" and "Bent and Broken" move plainly toward the ballad. Louhimo's voice is still the strongest thing here, travelling from a low push to a full scream inside a single song. The title states the stance: the story does not end conveniently. The words take up strength and revenge, subjects power metal has always used, without promising how any of it turns out. The order here is the eleven-track pressing; in most territories the standard is thirteen with "Bent and Broken" and "My Last Dream" added, and that is the version the player carries.