Pathfinder: Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time (2010)

Of the major metal subgenres, power metal remains the one that it has been hardest for me to discover new bands, especially the European style.  I feel like I have talked about this before, but maybe not in depth.  I think that power metal is the hardest genre play convincingly.  We expect black metal, death metal and thrash metal bands to sound raw and primitive.  European power metal is a much more sophisticated style, and musicians have to really be incredible to pull it off.  And so it is that I have a hard time finding decent new power metal bands.

One group that has recently caught my attention though is Pathfinder from Poland.  Pathfinder is a symphonic power metal band whose sound reminds me a lot of Sonata Arctica.  This is a good thing, because Sonata Arctica remains one of my personal favorite power metal bands, particularly from their earlier albums.  Now, I do not want it to sound like Pathfinder is a clone of Sonata Arctica.  For one, they do not quite possess the same instrumental prowess and technical ability.  They are able to achieve the slower and mid-paced sound, but not quite make it to the same lightning-fast ability of "Wolf & Raven" for instance. 

This album is a lengthy epic full of impressive musicianship and dynamics.  The band is undeniably talented and work together reasonably well.  There are some songs that definitely grab attention, particularly the title track. 

Unfortunately it is not all great.  The album is damn near 75 minutes long and there has rarely been an album that long that utilized that much time to the fullest.  There is guaranteed to be some filler here that could have easily been left off the final product and made it that much stronger.  That is certainly true here. 

I glanced at reviews of this album on the Metal Archives.  It has been reviewed ten times and every single review is either in the high 90s or a zero.  I do not have that extreme of feelings about this album.  It is fine for what it is, but it is neither a perfect album, nor an absolute travesty.  It is merely decent, if too long.