There indeed still are young bands that dare to take up the banner of Fantasy Power Metal! LOGAR'S DIARY from Berlin are one of them and their debut "Book 1: Iostros" sounds damn ambitious, not only when you look at the title. Ennobled by a fantastic artwork the quintet offers us a concept about the life of a wizard in the Fantasy-world of Earthdawn, which some of you might know from the role-playing-game of the same name. Musically they do not try to rely on the (too much) heard True Metal, but intelligently weave their songs around the story, to give each text the tonal dimension.

After the dark, spoken introduction "Earthdawn" LOGAR'S DIARY start out with "Lonely On The Serpent River", a swift killer (Why do almost all Power Metal-albums start with an intro and then a fast song?), which shows that you still can play this style without citing HELLOWEEN, STRATOVARIUS or RHAPSODY. After the compact mid-tempo-track "Travelling To The Blood Woods" "Ti'An - A Troubadour's Ballad" awakes memories of the "Bard's Song"s of BLIND GUARDIAN, before returning to the fast-lane with "Travar - The Golden City".

Also heavily recommended are the very variedly arranged "King's Hall" and "Iostros". In all of those tracks the band uses the keyboards to induce some medieval sounds, spinet and similar stuff. For the rhythm-section they managed to secure the service of a drum-computer, a real drummer would, of course, have been better, but it's no point for criticism.

Another asset of the band is vocalist Hagen Hirschmann, who just doesn't use the same pitch as the vast majority of his colleagues, a welcome change.

LOGAR'S DIARY show with "Book 1: Iostros" that it still is possible to play Power Metal as a young band without being confronted with fifty names of bands that sound exactly the same. So thumbs up for a really good indie-release!

8,5/10 points

- Review by Alex

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