First and foremost, this album is absolutely amazing, fantastic job. I'd just about given up on Power Metal after hearing Freedom Call's latest offering and not really being impressed by anything much other than Firewind in the past few years, but this album has given me hope power metal isn't completely dead - an album hasn't caught my interest this much since Freedom Call's "Eternity" in 2003. I think this ranks up there as one of my favourite PM albums to date.
I also think it's very cool how you keep up on the forums, Steve, and respond to fans opinions. That's great to see, considering how so many bands seem to distance themselves from fans nowadays. As far as my thoughts on the songs of the album...
Cemetary Gates - The keyboard intro is epic, I love it! I heard the full clip of this song on last.fm, which convinced me to get the album, and yeah, this song is great. The only thing that is kind of funny is that the lyrical content is quite serious and a little sad, but the song is upbeat the entire way through, heh. I don't care, great song.
Human Machine - Didn't like it at first, but really like it now. Still not a favourite, but it's a decent song and catchy as hell.
Civilised? - O lawd, best Power Quest song to date. This is amazing! I repeated this song for nearly 2 hours, the vocals, lyrics, music... everything, perfect, really well done.
Kings of Eternity - Pure Power Metal, reminded me a lot of Freedom Call. Really catchy track, definite win, though it seemed the vocals were a little uncomfortable during the faster paced parts.
Master of Illusion - Power Quest at its' finest, the chorus is really nice, the synths are great in this song. Worthy of being a title track.
The Vigil - Nice little song, great intro, excellent prechorus, a slightly hit and miss chorus though. Another thing I would have liked to have heard was proper melodeath-style vocals in place of the rough vocals, I think they would have fit really well. Kinda like Dragonland incorporated on their album, I thought that worked really well. Other than that, good job.
Save the World - Love the opening, gives it a really mystical feeling. Epic chorus, nice song, I think it'd be great live.
Hearts and Voices - Fine, probably the closest to a 'filler' song that you'll get on the album. Maybe the end goes on a little long, chorus can become a tad tedious, but I do still like the song.
I Don't Believe In Friends Forever - Now, here, I have to stand back and think 'what were you guys thinking?'
Not in the way the song was composed, it's fine... but the title, really? I can't help but laugh... 'friends forever' ? Haha. Gay gay gay!!
Kidding, of course, though it is a bit poofy, so to speak. It doesn't matter, cos the song is good, but yeah, the title and that line in the chorus just make me chuckle.
Never Again - I really like this song, except... it's like the chorus was spliced in from another song. The tempo changes completely.... sorry, I don't really think it works, it just creates a weird effect that disjoints me when listening. I like both the verses and the chorus, I just don't think they fit together. It's a testament to the awesomeness of the band that the song still rocks though.
Reckoning Day - Very nice cover, vocals sound very Mustaineish at times, I was impressed.
Overall, very very impressed with the album, definite win on many levels. The only thing I would say is that many of the lyrics, which deal with often dark and even tragic things, are backed by happy-sounding music most of the way through. It's a little weird to listen to, though I do like it in a strange way!
I was hoping to see PQ supporting Dragonforce on their UK tour but that doesn't appear to be happening, which is a shame. It would have been really cool. I hope to see PQ soon, though, as this album is killer! \m/