'Messiah's Kiss's' second album, the unimaginatively titled 'Metal' does exactly what it say on the tin, deliver another compelling dose of good traditional Metal / Power Metal. By no means the most original band in the world, but they certainly know how to write a good old school power rocker. Musically there's little difference from the debut, personally I'd say this isn't quite as consistently heavy, but there's not a lot in it. Line-up changes since 'Prayer for the Dying' sees English bassist 'Wayne Banks' taking over from 'Andreas Roschak'.

A brooding organ fuelled intro titled 'Execrate' acts as a decent lead-in to the punishing opener 'Uncaging Rebellion', a no-nonsense ripper that comes complete with 'Mike Tirelli's' crunchy vocals, blazing fret work and solid rhythm- what more to you want from an album's first cut? Ensuing strongly is the pulsating 'Believer', 'Wayne Banks's' bass really stands out here, in fact the rhythm work is splendid throughout, a shame the track ends so abruptly. The tempo falls for the powerful anthem 'Metal 'Til We Die', this ones straight out of the 'Manowar' handbook, but it's an effective fist-raiser which again shows 'Mike Tirelli's' superb range. Borrowing both song title and influence from Heavy Metal legends 'Riot' is the galloping 'Fight or Fall' a more melodic affair, that witnesses blazing fret work from 'Georg Kraft' and 'Alexander Hitz'. In contrast is the more aggressive plodder 'Holy Waters', a decent affair but personally I'm not sure about all the backing vocals, while the more Power Metal 'Angels' ebbs and flows to a refined rhythm, but might have worked better without the demonic voices mid track. Better still is the thundering 'Hell or Victory' which is like combination of classic 'Running Wild' meets 'Iron Maiden', splendid drum and bass, solid penmanship and further enhanced by 'Tirelli's' sharp vocals and deft fret work- best track present. Things start for go pear shaped with the balladsy 'Tears in the Rain', which sees a duet between 'Tirelli' and female vocalist 'Amalia', in parts it's decent, in others is diabolical. Back on track is the grooving 'Run and Hide', a good solid no-frills 80's style rocker, catchy chorus, great fret work and all told pretty catchy- nice stuff. Continuing strongly and in similar fashion is the galloping 'Road to Exxtasy', another catchy effort, simply but effectively penned and a little reminiscent of 'Rob Rocks' work, especially with the outstanding melodic vocals and blazing solos. The momentum falls for 'Blackhawk' a pretty decent number and it's nice to see them take a slightly different approach with a more modern mature sound, ultimately however still not really a highlight. Back into the safe territory of 'Iron Maiden' is the semi-epic 'The Edge of Eternity', the intro to which is almost lifted straight from 'Brave New World', despite this it's another album highlight, first-rate build-up, nice 'Axel Rudi Pell' style lyrics and approach and splendid musicianship. Last up is 'Dog Idols' which is a cacophony of dogs growling- it's presence on the album is actually embarrassing!

14 tracks was a tad adventurous, personally if the had omitted the poor ballad 'Tears in the Rain' and the awful (can't believe it was included!) 'Dog Idols', this album would have worked much better with just the 11 cuts plus the intro. Despite this it's another excellent instalment of traditional Metal, that's about on-a-par with splendid the debut.