Nostradameus is a Swedish band that consists of 5 members from which the drummer recently quit but they already found a replacement. The cd consists of 10 tracks, but a limited edition will also be released that has a bonus track called “Scream Of Anger”, which is a cover of the same song originally performed by Europe.

Nostradameus plays mostly power/progressive metal with all standard ingredients like speed, double bass and choirs. The band can be compared with bands like Balance Of Power but with less quality. Freddy Persson, the vocalist, manages to sing fairly well on the more up tempo tracks, but sounds a little bit of tone on the ballads. The first five tracks (number one being an instrumental intro of 45 seconds) are more catchy than the last five and this kind of music is not made to be background music, so if one has to listen to this for one hour strait, chances are that the cd-player will be turned off after those first five songs.

The stanzas are all a lot alike, so the difference between the tracks comes from the chorus. General impression is that one could fit 12 of these tracks into a dozen and that Nostradameus doesn’t stick out of the average power metal bands that are currently flooding the genre.

This album isn’t bad, but it’s not a killer that sticks in your mind for several days. Listening to it before buying is strongly recommended.