The music they've created is forceful, dynamic and played with some style.

Heaven's Trail are something of a Power Metal super-group created by a collection of musicians whose names, for those who follow Melodic/Power Metal, will be more than a little bit familiar. Guitarist Barish Kepic (Jaded Heart, Evidence One), singer Rick Altzi (Masterplan, At Vance), bassist Michael Mueller (Mad Max, Jaded Heart) and drummer Kevin Kott (Masterplan, At Vance) make up this new and powerful Melodic Metal entity, and as you would expect, the music they've created is forceful, dynamic and played with some style.

There are few musical surprises on this release, however, that isn't a bad thing at all. Of course, if these four guys had released a Jazz record, then we would be rightly scratching our heads and wondering why, but 'Lethal Mind' is an album full of classy Melodic Metal that's similar to the bands they've been in before, albeit with an added dash of Hard Rock thrown into the mix to help spice things up.

To my ears, there's really nothing whatsoever to dislike here. Tracks such as 'Lethal Mind', 'Too Late', 'Feed My Soul', 'Changes', 'The Flame' and 'On The Rise' all provide clear evidence that Heaven's Trail really do mean business. However, there are two songs that I consider worthy of special mention; the classy and broodingly brilliant mid-paced rocker 'Walking In The Shadows' (where Altzi and Kepic truly shine) and 'Carousel', a splendid melodic rocker that's fuelled by a killer chorus, the driving bass and drums of Mueller and Kott respectively, and, once again, Kepic and Altzi's guitar and vocal interplay.

As I've said it before, and no doubt will again, this record is not particularly original in terms of sound. However, I truly feel that as long as the tracks are well written, the music is vibrant (and played by musicians who love what they're doing) and the album is well produced, then should it really matter if you might have heard something like it before? Personally, I don't think so, and I hope Heaven's Trail's debut is the start of many good things to come from the band

Ian Johnson