Oratory, a power metal quintet hailing from Portugal, have recently released their second album, Beyond Earth. The first thing that really struck me when listening to this album was Ana Lara’s angelic voice. What a pleasant surprise to hear such crystal clear female vocals instead of the usual theatrical male vocals. One can safely say that the departure of front man Marco Alves has pushed this band forward. Ana, who’s the background vocalist on Oratory’s debut album, is now responsible for all the lead vocals and apart from having a wonderful voice, it also makes the music sound more refreshing.

Beyond Earth is a classical concept album inspired by Spanish author Luis Vaz de Camoes’ book “Os Lusiadas”. The book was written in the 16th century and tells about explorer Vasco da Gama’s travels to India. Oratory describe their music as neoclassical melodic power metal, which sounds about right although they could have stepped away from the classical influences a bit more.

The production of the album is good, with heavy guitars and well played keyboard parts but the music in general is certainly nothing new. Most songs are pretty straightforward power metal, nevertheless Oratory manages to impress me. The album is filled with catchy melodies and powerful songs that surely level above the average power metal act. Add to that Ana’s wonderful vocals and one just has to conclude that Beyond Earth is an album showing us that decent power metal is not only made in Scandinavia, Germany or Italy.

Oratory added a hidden track but thank god they won’t let you wait ten minutes before it starts. The song is oddly enough a cover of The Bangles hit song, “Eternal Flame”. Best tracks of the album are “Your Glory Won’t Last Forever”, “Concilium” and “A New Quest”.