This album blew me away and that don’t happen very often.

Triosphere are a female fronted melodic power metal band from Norway who have just released their second full album and it’s an album that made me sit up and take notice as soon as it started to play which, with the amount of stuff I get to hear these days is quite a feat. Yet what was it that made me sit up and take notice? Was it because the music that the band played was highly original and had never been done before - err no, was it because there was something different about the way they went about making their music, again - no, so what was it that had ensnared me. Well I can tell you that it was the voice of front person Ida Haukland that had grabbed my attention, and that was because Ida doesn’t have the usual operatic kind of voice you have come to expect when listening to this kind of music. She has in fact and this is going to surprise you (it did me), a voice not to dissimilar to that of Welsh chanteuse Bonnie Tyler (I kid you not). At times the comparisons are uncanny (though they don’t cover ’Lost In Frace’, shame), the raspy quality is all there, the phrasing, which makes listening to Triosphere a very interesting experience indeed.

For musical reference points I’d use Dio, Benedictum, Nightwish and Primal Fear meeting prog rock on a power metal staircase, all of them then having a fight to see who comes out on top, which might sound a bit messy at first but it works and works very well. The obligatory instrumental intro segues into ‘Driven’ a powerful song that sets the template for the rest of the CD, it’s brooding heavy riffs and cutting solos joined with a great hookline show a band hungry to make great music and succeeding with ease. ‘Marionette’ is another prime example of this bands dedication to melody because as heavy and technically proficient as Triosphere are they never forget that the most important thing is the melody line. The ‘Watcher’ has an almost hard rock attitude with a kind of Maiden feel to the riffs which comes to life with the roar of Ida’s voice, ‘Worlds Apart’ is an in your face power metal romp filled with fantastic musicianship and again a big chorus, which is what makes the songs I’ve mentioned and all the others really stand out on ‘The Road Less Travelled’.

Triosphere are a band that should appeal to a wide range of rock music lovers (ie: the Fireworks and Rocktopia faithful) as they have an ear for melody but more importantly they know how to write great songs. For me ‘The Road Less Travelled’ is one of the albums that people will be talking about come the top ten lists debate at the end of the year. Can’t say much more than this album blew me away and that don’t happen very often.

Ian Johnson.