Ravenlord is the seventh album from Germany’s Power Metal stalwarts, Mystic Prophecy. Best known as current Ozzy/Firewind shredder Gus G.’s former outfit, Mystic Prophecy churns out heavy, aggressive, headbanging, epic Power Metal. Ravenlord picks up where their last album, the awesome Fireangel left off. Crushing riffs, fast double bass drums and powerful lead vocals chock full of melody. From the fist pumping title track “Ravenlord”, to the thrashy “Die Now!” the album starts off strong and never slows down. Lead vocalist R.D. Liapakis is a monster behind the microphone and belts out each tune with passion and ferocity. Other standout tracks are the rocking “Eyes of the Devil”, the heavy and melodic “Damned Tonight”, and the mid-tempo metal duo of “Hollow” and “Wings of Destiny”. “Reckoning Day” is an aural assault to the senses with a heavy groove and lots of melody. Sensing a pattern here? Mystic Prophecy isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel here, just lots of crushing heavy metal. My only gripe would be the by the numbers cover of Ozzy’s “Miracle Man’, while well done, it’s not one of my favorite Ozzy tunes and MP doesn’t do much to standout from the original. But this is a minor flaw and doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the album. American audiences will get a taste of the new tracks as Mystic Prophecy has been conformed to appear at September’s ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta. If they are half as powerful live as they are on disc, then the Atlanta faithful are in for a treat!

Rating: 8.5