Well, they're no Blasphemophagher, but Italy's Prodigal Sons is quite good in their own right, delivering their rendition of heavy metal in 2012. I wouldn't go as far as to say that "On Our Last Day" is the most amazing heavy metal album ever, or even as far as it's in the top 10 new heavy metal albums but it is still worth lending your ear to if you dig some good ol' traditional metal that is laced with melody and riddled with riffs that completely worship Judas Priest.
A vast majority of the riffs on this record are pretty catchy in a similar way to ones on a lot of Judas Priest records are. They're somewhat melodic while retaining a slight heaviness even when the guitars are harmonizing. The track "V" would definitely be the best example of this, and Gabriele Tura's soaring vocals also add a very nice touch to the riffs. His vocals are extremely clean and don't really possess any kind of roughness or aggression at all (except on "The Sacred Land," where his vocals resemble those of J.D. Kimball a bit) sounding like a cross between Hansi Kursch and to some extent, Kai Hansen, although with less range.
There is also a lot of melodies to be found throughout "On Our Last Day," and for the most part they suit the music well and don't sound out of place. The melodies that start off the tracks "Let Us Speak" and "Deception From Heaven" both really serve no purpose other than to start the song but they return later on in the tracks and add a nice backdrop for the vocals in the catchy choruses. The melody that comes in after the clean intro on "I Dream of Hope" is an awesome ear-catcher and sounds like it could have found a nice home on Iron Maiden's more progressive material.
Aside from the title track(I found that to be terrible, keep your pianos out of my metal!), Prodigal Sons managed to deliver a solid debut full-length that should please fans of bands like Judas Priest, Blind Guardian and other Euro-power metal bands. There is definitely a lot of potential here and I'm hoping that Prodigal Sons can conjure up an even better record the next time around.
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Highlights
"Let Us Speak"
"Deception From Heaven"
"I Dream of Hope"
Final Rating
4/5 or 80%.