The first song shocked me. I realized that I have been listening too much to Metallica and I hear it everywhere now. Such plain associations brought that riff. But listening to this intro for the second time I came to think that it’s not me; I guess it`s them, who have listened too much to Metallica. So, welcome to the new Malediction album "Esclave Du Vice" (can be translated as "Slave Of Vice (Depravity)") first song of which scintillates with the intro riff of "Master Of Puppets". It`s the second full-length release of the power metal band from Laon (Northern France). And they perform an aggressive mix of power metal and traditional heavy metal. No cantilenas, no ballads. The album is such a complete and integral one that it`s really hard to distinguish the songs from each other. Songs flow from one into the other and then into the next till it all ends with a powerful instrumental outro. They play it well; it`s well produced. And it`s a good way to spend your time. The only question here is originality, because like most of the bands playing this style of music, they can`t avoid heavy metal clichés.

But Malediction try to do the different thing - all the songs are sung in French. I`ll relieve you from the well-known discussion about singing in a native language. I don`t wanna deal with stereotypes. They try to combine traditional heavy metal and French lyrics?! Well, it has some positive moments - you can listen to the harmonies and the vocal range of vocalist Sylvain Mollard as to just another instrumental part. Plus you can imagine the whole new world with the unearthly lyrics. And as well as the melody of the language it gives some singularity to the album as a whole. But a quick look at the song titles breaks this magic and turns you back to the standard world of heavy metal themes; "The Martyr"(#4), "Plots"(#5), "Heresy"(#6), "Toward Hell"(#8) (a rough translation). If you are a fan of this style, this one is for you! But if you are not, you`ll get bored with all those justice killers, slaves, hells and so on. So, here`s my advice, don`t try to translate, use your imagination. Only that can make this traditional and, in general, usually an album that’s worth your attention.