This month has most definitely been a heavy metal month as opposed to my more normal diet of AOR/Prog and continuing on that theme we have here  Evil Masquerade’s 'Third Act', unsurprisingly therefore the band's third album. Again following a recent trend this is yet another concept piece. Why do I always land the concept pieces? It's not that I mind them it's just they tend to take a lot of work and after ten listens I still cannot get my head around the concept of 'Third Act'.

However this lack of understanding has not diminished the enjoyment of the individual songs one jot. Henrik Flyman has written arguably the finest Dio album ever taking the finest parts of late eighties heavy metal as well as some pointers from more modern bands to produce a very consistent  record.  The riffs employed throughout are killer, driving the songs along apace and throughout there is excellent interplay between all of the instruments. New boy, vocalist Apollo Papathanasio, certainly lends himself well to the band and it is perhaps his voice as much as anything that gives rise to those Dio comparisons as he really does sound like RJD throughout.

Both heavy and melodic Third Act has no one track that stands out head and shoulders from all of the others and as mentioned earlier is truly consistent throughout and is definitely great fun to listen to... but will somebody please explain the bloody concept to me!!!

Let us know your views on 'Third Act'

Track List

The Devil's Last Temptation
Third Act
Black Raves Cry
Descended From the Grave
Far Away
The Dark Minstrel Plays
I'll Make You Burn
Under the Surface of Water
Orchestration For More Than One Horn
Bring On the World
The Final Goodbye

Line Up

Apollo Papathanasio - Vocals
Henrik Flyman - Guitars/Keys
Dennis Buhl - Drums
Thor Jeppesen - Bass
David Rosenthal - Keys
Richard Andersson - Keys