Power Quest - 'The Sixth Dimension'

An album of speed-driven Power Metal that oozes of the very essence of Power Metal... to have a bloody good time.

In a year that's presented us with a mammoth career-spanning retrospective from Edguy, a game-changing genre-making visionary record from Orden Ogan and top-drawer releases from the likes of Nocturnal Rites and DragonForce, you've got to have a little something extra in the Power Metal melting pot to pour it out over the ears of the masses and remain standing relevant. Thankfully, six years since their fantastic fifth outing, 'Blood Alliance', the aptly-named Power Quest gear up for nine fantasy-riddled side-quests of form-topping note in the shape of sixth album – 'The Sixth Dimension'.

In a genre where records fly out left, right and centre, and new acts show up and split up year-on-year, a six-year wait between records can be one hell of a detriment to a band who were seemingly at the top of their game, and yet here it has helped Power Quest far more than it has hindered. It's clear from the off that the break has given founder Steve Williams the time to mastermind a matured adaptation of their previous output, channelling the recently polished recordings of Symphony X and DragonForce, with vocalist Ashley Edison putting in a performance throughout that is far too eerily like that of DragonForce's Marc Hudson.



'Face The Raven' is the first showing of the band's growth, the epic opening howl colliding powerfully with the speed-driven epic-sounding power-riffs that ride through the storm of the song. Elsewhere, 'No More Heroes' hits like a traditional Power Metal track dripping with a modern sheen and the potential for sing-along success at an all-time high. Titular track and mammoth closer, 'The Sixth Dimension', is a grandiose tour-de-force of what Power Quest stand for, and features the mind-blowing vocals of former Nightwish matriarch Anette Olzon, who, along with Edison, narrates one of the finest tracks Power Quest have ever dropped. 'Revolution Fighters' quite honestly should be a modern-day anthem – a Monday morning motivational fix.

Power Quest may have taken their time in following up '...Alliance', but 'The Sixth Dimension' proves that slow and steady wins the race with an album of speed-driven Power Metal that oozes of the very essence of Power Metal... to have a bloody good time.

Jack Press