7th Reign hails from Toronto, Ontario in Canada. They play heavy metal, and were formed in 2005. The band got their "break" opening for Sonata Arctica at The Opera House in Toronto in January of 2006. An independently released debut album saw the light of day a year later.

7TH REIGN (2007) INDEPENDENT

I found out about this band, discussing Eidolon on a message board. This because Brian and Adrian used to be in that band (Adrian still is, I believe). And thanks to CDBaby independently released metal CD's, such as this self-titled debut, can easily be found and acquired. 7th Reign delivers a blend of traditional American power metal, and the kind of European metal most people today call power metal. That means you can expect anything from speed metal and traditional metal, through neo-classical guitar-parts and keyboard infused melodic pictures in the background. But the emphasis is on writing memorable songs, just as it should be. The riffs are not dominating, but still very key to the song structure. And they have found a great player in Marios Panayiotis! Brian Soulard delivers some high-pitched clean vocals, not unlike what we remember from bands like Recon, Cauldron Born and of course the era of Eidolon when Brian was their singer. I might also add that he at times sounds like a dead ringer for Andre Matos (ex-Angra, Viper, Shaman, Virgo). At first I thought that the drums were done by a machine. Especially the first song had a very "fake" drum sound. But the credits list Niall Mellors as their drummer, so I might be dead wrong on this. however the liner-notes says nothing about a keyboard-player, yet most of the songs are layered with keys. I find the band to sound the best when they deliver that old school power metal fell in songs such as "Defied" and "Dark Of The Sun". However I find the mentioned keyboards and neo-classical twists to be something that gives them their own sound. And in a song like "Asylum" everything comes together in a fine, almost epic metal tune. Another thing 7th Reign has going on for them are the lyrics. It's quite clear that these guys have beliefs in a God, and although the lyrics are far from preachy, they do point towards the light. '7th Reign' is a good debut release. It would of course have benefited more with e beefier production, but as an independent release it hold up nicely. Glen Drover (Eidolon, ex-Megadeth) does a guest guitar-solo in the last instrumental track.

Killer tracks: Defied, Dark Of The Sun, Asylum, By Way Of Deception

Eidolon