Strong songs, super musicianship and fantastic female vocals.

Italian power metal act Mastercastle return with album number three. It is another fine addition to their growing arsenal of work and sees the band’s vocalist Giorgia Gueglio really come to the fore as a singer. I single out Giorgia because as she sang, she reminded me of the wonderful Lana Lane, which really helps the songs on ‘Dangerous Diamonds’ to stand out. However, the other band members are no slouches either, the bass and drums of Steve Vawamas and Alessandro Bissa are the rock solid (sorry) backbone to Mastercastle’s music, whilst guitarist Peir Gonella really knows his way around the fret board. And with the band now settled into how they work together, the songs on ‘DD’ show a tightness and confidence that the songs on the earlier Mastercastle albums sometimes lacked.

Check out this new confidence on the tracks such as ‘Time 4 Lovers’; the song itself is a mid-paced rocker with a strong melody line running through it and it has a great chorus to round it off. It is also where you first notice Giorgia Gueglio’s vocal resemblance to that of Miss Lana Lane. ‘Au Premiere Coup’ is a story about famed Italian artist Bruno Galbiati and the band tell how his style of eclectic artwork influenced them as they grew up. ‘Dangerous Diamonds’ has Gonella showing us all what a very good guitar player he really is, riffing like the devil himself one minute then soloing like an angel the next, his guitar work then goes on to compliment the strong vocal melodies of Giorgia and the song takes on a life of its own, and helps make this one of the outstanding tracks on the album. ‘Sixth Sun’ is probably the most up-tempo song on the album, and it gallops along head down, going straight for the jugular as it plays. Finally I must mention the ballad ‘Lovin’ Me’, which is I suppose a standard kind of track for this type of metal release, though it is taken to a different level because of the vocals and again the wonderful guitar playing of Giorgia and Gonella.

Mastercastle have grown with each successive album and ‘Dangerous Diamonds’ sees the band take their assault on the rock world to a new high. If you like a bit of melodic power metal with strong songs, super musicianship and fantastic female vocals, then why not give DD and Mastercastle a try. I think that you’ll be glad you did.

Ian Johnson