This is their first album in almost 20 years and it feels like Balance of Power have decided that this time it’s the time to really make it count.
First it is produced by founding member Lionel Hicks and Toby Jepson (Wayward Sons, Little Angels) but its mixed by Mike Plotnikoff (Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry) and consequently it sounds like a million dollars.
None of that matters, though unless the record is any good – and do not fret “Fresh From The Abyss” is an absolute cracker.
They sound reinvigorated and “Last Man Down” crackles with energy. It is proper metal, stack harmonies, Ronnie James Dio, that type of thing. Then a slashing solo to boot.
“Never Be Here Again” neatly explains it. New singer Hazel Jade is sensational, and guitarists Chris Masimore and Stoney Wagner (who play on the album) can solo like it’s 1985. And perhaps because Jepson is such a genuine fan of metal, he’s pulled it all together.
If I am making it sound like it is belonging in a bygone age, this is no mere trad nostalgia. “Monster” is a modern take on it all. So is “Rage Of Angels”. Its catchy hook marks it as a real highlight, and this is heavier than you might think too! “Abyss” is vicious.
Screeching guitar solos have made a return recently, and there’s a real menace to the one on “Velocity”. That’s even before the groove of “Deadlands”, which has a much harder edge, metal at its best and most pure.
“One More Time Around The Sun”, is a bigger, soaring epic, but all it does is prove there’s nothing Balance Of Power can’t do.
The record has been so long in gestation that it was begun way before the pandemic, and the band line-up has changed again. The band themselves have said they are “very proud to be carrying the Balance of Power flame into a new era of our evolution” and well they might be.
“Fresh From The Abyss” is one of the best albums of their career, and it will be interesting to see where it takes them.
Rating 8.5/10
