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An unknown Power Metal gem gets a simple, yet deserving reissue.-
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| Lost Horizon: Awakening the World (2012 Reissue) |
Power Metal
The End Records (2012), Koch Records
May 8th, 2001 / January 31st, 2012
- The Quickening - 1:07
- Heart Of Storm - 6:16
- Sworn In The Metal Wind - 5:45
- The Song Of Air - 0:59
- World Through My Fateless Eyes - 5:09
- Perfect Warrior - 3:56
- Denial Of Fate - 3:39
- Welcome Back - 5:41
- The Kingdom Of My Will - 9:15
- The Redintegration - 1:43
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| Review Information |
Release length: 43:27
Review posted on March 26th, 2009
2012 Reissue on January 30th, 2012
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| | Original Score: 7.5/10 |
 
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| 2012 Reissue Score: 7.5/10 |
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| Review |
It usually is frowned upon to put myself in a review, but for this release, I must. Many people look at the band Manowar and call them the definition of "Cheese Metal", a term loosely describing a band that writes and talks about metal worship. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have contenders for that title with Lost Horizon's album Awakening The World. As soon as you look at the artwork, you may have a bit of nostalgia of MTV if you happen to have watched the show "The Road To Ozzfest", as this was one of the bands that did not make it past the audition part of the show and was featured briefly in the first episode. Add on top of that the fact that the band dresses like martian native Americans (or Indians for those who don't care about being politically correct). Needless to say, if you feel as compelled to look in the booklet as I did, you will nearly wet yourself from laughing so hard. "Cosmic Antagonist," "Ethereal Magnanimus," "Preternastural Transmogrifyer" and "Transcendental Protagonist" are the names of all the members in the band, each getting an entire page to thank everyone, except "Transcendental Protagonist" wh happens to take up two pages. Bare in mind, all the text in this booklet is about a size 4 Times New Roman font, so there's a lot of thanking going on here! Not only that, but the last page proclaims "Lost Horizon, The Bringer Of Metal Salvation"! So, great, we basically have interplanetary metal savior native American super heroes.
All joking aside, The Time Is Now is actually rather impressive and, obviously, this is one of those self motivation bands that seem to be flooding the heavy metal and power metal styles as of late. So, if you're not into all that, this album is probably not for you. But if you can look past it, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how talented this band really is. Now, if they could just ditch the whole galactic super hero Navajo thing...
This album is pretty much like a step back in time. The production quality even sounds reminiscent of 80's heavy metal albums, including the various high pitch vocal moments by the singer that are overlayed with more of an echo then the normal vocals have. With your first listen, the vocalist may seem a bit like a poor choice for the music, but as the album goes on, it seems to fit the music perfectly, especially since "Heart Of Storm" is a bit out-of-place and the "hardest" song on this recording, whereas most of it is just a fast paced true heavy metal sound, or a slower anthem-like track, like "Perfect Warrior" (which also sounds like it should be in an old 80's action or horror film ending credits).
The songs on here are pretty solid too. As stated earlier, "Heart Of Storm" seems a bit out-of-place, but that one will be quickly ignored when you hear the catchy as hell "Denial Of Fate", which happens to feature keyboards that sound like the song "Hate Me!" by Children Of Bodom. "Welcome Back" is easily the heaviest song on this album, and will definitely get your blood pumping with the furious guitar work and blistering drums.
| 2012 Reissue: |
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There really doesn't seem to be any real difference between this reissue of Awakening the World versus the original. Everything is about the same, though I'm sure the physical artwork will be altered to reflect The End Records. Other than that, it still has that slightly muffled late nineties, early two thousands audio quality to it. There's no bonus tracks to be seen either, which would have been nice, but given how long it has been since the band issued anything new, it doesn't really come off as much of a shock. This Lost Horizon album hasn't seen the light of day in quite a while, though it isn't too hard to find on-line used either. Really, this is a judgement call. If you like Power Metal and are looking for something interesting to listen to, and don't have the original pressing and would rather buy it brand new, then here you go. Other than making it available to consumers once more, there's no reason to go out of your way to replace an original copy with this one.
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So, aside the capes, the staves, and the tribal body make up, this is a pretty damn impressive release. One wouldn't go so far to say that they are the metal saviors, especially after listening to this release, but they definitely have the talent to perhaps inspire other bands to bring this sound back. If you are looking for a fresh band that can bring you back to the days of metal's youth, then these four ripped pleather wearing cosmic super heroic indian look-a-like self-proclaimed metal savior super heroes will save the day for you from the terror that is emo and other things non-metal! They may not be able to leap buildings in a single bound, but damnit, they will kick your ass... And now that this release has been reissued, there is no denying this hidden Power Metal gem will strike the interest of buyers who just happen to see it in their local music store's Metal section, or scattered about the rest of the albums if that doesn't exist. It's great to have it back, but in the end it's up to you if you want this, or the original pressing.
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Donater/Ethic Info |
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Original physical review copy of this release provided by:
Personal funds.
2012 Reissue digital review copy provided by:
The End Records
via Tell All Your Friends PR. |
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