Third album in for Teutonic Metallers 'Paragon' and it's another healthy slab of uncompromising Power Metal, forget ballads this is yet another punishing experience from start to finish. Unfortunately at this stage of their career there are still a few too many uneven moments, at times a little too thrashy and murky for my liking, whilst lyrically they delve deeply into the well worn themes of witchcraft and Satanism, which are ok in moderation, but perhaps overdone here. Worst of all though is the flat production which does nothing to enhance the material, thank goodness 'Piet Sielck' takes over all of the production duties on their later albums!

The album opens with a short intro titled 'Awakening the Beast' and is surprisingly supplied by no less than 'Gamma Ray's' 'Henjo Rickter'. This nicely gives way to the punishing lead track 'Dragon's Flight', which commences in typical 'Paragon' fashion, blazing guitars from 'Martin Christian' and 'Claudius Cremer', while 'Andreas Babuschkin' delivers in his usual abrasive manner- good opener. The pulsating 'Legions of Metal' ensues solidly and highlight more fabulous 'Christian' fret work, ultimately though the lacklustre chorus kills a potentially good song. Next up is 'Chalice of Steel' and for a 'Paragon' title track is a tad disappointing, sure the usual thundering rhythm and fret work is present, but for me it needed more work, as the chorus is predictable, some of the lyrics trite and lacks an appropriate ending. The tempo falls somewhat for the insidious plodder 'Wheels of Eternity' which takes an early 'Black Sabbath' blueprint and introduces more modern European influences, as with a lot of tracks here, there's potential, but at seven minutes long soon becomes tedious and relies too heavily on the solos. The momentum is lifted for the pulsating 'Desecrate', an uncompromising ripper, that while a solid affair, lacks enough tempo changes and ultimately feels too repetitive, while the chorus is also pretty weak. The short 'Piet Sielck' instrumental intro 'Dark Tale' ensues and not only acts as a nice lead-in to the next song but breaks the album up nicely. 'Casting Shadows' is a step in the right direction, a foreboding ripper that creates an uneasy atmosphere, the axe work is again superb, while 'Babuschkin' does well with some powerful lyrics. Brisker and nastier still is the thunderous 'Burn at the Stake' a blazing Speed Metal ripper, that's fuelled by unrelenting drum and bass work and although a tad patchy in places, still an enjoyable rocker ride. Promising even more Power Metal bliss is 'Journey Home', which commences with one hell of an intro, sadly it quickly loses focus and overlooking some fine solos is regrettably fairly run-of-the-mill. 'A.D. 2000' opens both subtly and melodically only to develop into a rhythm heavy plodder, which at times has shades of early 'Metallica', ultimately a fairly laboured affair, despite the powerful approach. 'Chalice of Steel' bows out with a cover of 'Exciter's' 'Violence and Force', I've never heard the original but it's a pretty straight-forward Speed Metal affair, brisk, nice guitars, lyrically solid but slightly repetitive and all told still a pretty strong offering.

It doesn't quite gel here for 'Paragon', some of the songs need more work and the production fails to lift any of the material, all said if you like the band there's enough tasty cuts here to keep the interest.