adg211288 Human Reset (2014) is the fifth full-length album by Italian power metal act Derdian. It’s not been that much more than a year since the group released their prior effort Limbo (2013), the shortest gap between two Derdian releases to date. Limbo was my introduction to the band’s music and it set exceptional first impressions with the way Derdian blended symphonic, progressive and neo-classical ideas into their power metal sound.

Considering the relativity short time it has taken Derdian to follow Limbo up with Human Reset it perhaps shouldn’t come as any surprise that the album is very much a more of the same release from the band. That’s fine though in this case, because while no new ground is being covered here the band have honed their song writing skills and came up with an album that shows off even more balance between their symphonic, progressive and neo-classical tinged power metal ideas. It’s power metal at its most epic sounding, but with more depth than most individual acts tend to offer up and once again the music is topped by the excellent vocals of Ivan Giannini (who previously made his debut with the group on Limbo). A real high class power metal vocalist there, but that’s the quality level we’re dealing with in Derdian all round. These guys are really at the top of their game right now.

Indeed, because it takes something really special to top an already strong release and that’s exactly what Derdian had on their hands with Limbo. While a more of the same release like Human Reset does run the risk of finishing up as being a lesser copy of its predecessor there isn’t even a hint that such could have happened here. So instead of feeling like a copy it’s more like a logical continuation from where Limbo left off. Of course Derdian still have one of those sounds that won’t be winning anyone over if they weren’t open to power metal to begin with, but for those of us who love the genre Human Reset, like Limbo before it, is about as prime an example as you can get to show off both how epic and how varied the genre can be.

90/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/derdian-human-reset-t3709.html)