The Italian band Crystal Empire started in 2000, when guitar player Devecchi joined forces with a band called Nemesi (in my opinion there are million bands called Nemesi or Nemesis, isn’t it?). First they played as a cover band but after a while they started playing theirown songs. This is the short history of this band. As you might know some biography’s from bands are to much blabla. This one also.

Now to the music. Crystal Empire plays power metal. On this album are five well played songs and they sound great. The minus on this album are the keyboards. The keyboards really sound bad. The plus on “Lord Of Illusions” is the vocalist Simon Byron. His voice is really good, sometimes I have the idea I hear Tim Owens.

This guy needs a better band or has to bring this band to a higher level. But he also has his minus because of the lower parts when he sings. The artwork is also a thing which reminds me of Iced Earth. It’s really cool (as you can see), and perfectly fits with this kind of music.

There’s some good news about this band and some news about this album. The signed a record deal with the Italian label Adrenaline /Steelheart Records and this album is free for download on their site: www.crystalempire.org. So check out their site and listen to “Lord Of Illusions”.