It's been said of Lightmare that when they're on, they're on, but when they're off, they're bad. I haven't heard their earlier albums (this is supposed to be a big improvement), but I wouldn't say there's that much of a gap in quality among the songs here. Frankly, Christian fans of classic power metal don't have much to choose from, and this is one of the more worthy albums out there.
Rather than the riff-heavy power metal of Blind Guardian or Iced Earth, it's the intricate "light" power metal of Helloween, with majestic and soaring songs fueled by tight, occasionally progressive guitar lines (the classical/progressive instrumental "Tones" is killer). Keyboards add nice epic swells and gothic moods to the sound, while wooden-tone double bass drumming provides a constantly tumbling sense of movement, often overpowering the other instruments in the mix. The vocals are thankfully not quite as high as some of their contemporaries, but other faults like nasality and impaired English accents (they're German) are hard to look past.
Lightmare takes its lyrical cue from '80s Christian metal, with simple-minded preachy anthems that can't always fill the grandiose vocals they're set to, are awkwardly translated, and might not hold the interest of more poetically-minded listeners. For example, title track "The Fool":
Crown of creation you've brought the end
To the awesome lands
Can't you see that one day you'll hold
nothing in your hand?
(from "Terrion")
Josh Spencer (4/10/99)
