I wonder who puts the labels on the CDs at Napalm Records. Take the album you’re reading about now as an example. The packing on the promo CD says “melodic hard rock”. If however you spin this disc on your CD player expecting to hear melodic songs about love, women and drink then you lost the bet.

It’s not that the debut album of this Austro–Romanian-Swedish quintet isn’t melodic. It starts with a bang, its title tracks constituting the most symphonic moment on the album and up to its impressive closure, with the successful but also very 80s cover of “Don't Pay The Ferryman” by Chris De Burgh,  the album is more power-progressive than anything else. Clearly influenced by first-period Sonata Arctica and Angra, Project Destiny is a very good debut, though it does lack the awe that the debut recordings of the two aforementioned bands had.

Despite that this disk has much to offer the power fan. Aggressive guitars, symphonic orchestration, neoclassical passages and a good, even if impaired by average vocal melodies, performance from Jake E, whom some may recognize from his stint in Dream Evil. Of course the album also has its low points. Especially “Icarus”, a song for which if the listener doesn’t read the lyrics, you could very well think that it’s written about “The Marriages of Figaro” rather than the mythological hero, but despite what they same, one bad apple doesn’t spoil the basket.

In conclusion, Project Destiny constitutes a very good debut album which even if it does not leave the listener speechless it does set very strong foundations for the future. We hope that their next album makes them the new multinational force in power metal. And if that comes around, then you just remember where you read this review…