Stephen First album in five years but IMPELLITTERI kinda failed to impress me much with 'Wicked Maiden' and the sole reason is because it lacks of really great tracks except for only two songs that I think are his astonishing achievement in this album. The first, 'Wicked Maiden', is an extra-fast beast and Chris' magnificent shredding is always steals the show, and the second is 'Garden of Eden', check out the riffs, this is what he's been missing on the rest of the album, and Rob Rock sounds totally awesome here.

Some songs have nice riffs such as 'Weapons of Mass Distortion' or 'Hi-School Revolution' but there's no spark that can made them your fave tunes. 'Eyes of An Angel' is promising, it has the 80s hard rock element that I really love, nothing's wrong with this, but I've heard hundreds of better songs. Not to mention 'Holy Man' being the worst track here and the closing track, 'The Battle Rages On', is too average to bother.

The production is great and if you're a big fan of this shredder, I don't think 'Wicked Maiden' can do you wrong. Also recommended for fans of power metal because Chris' style is always a border between it and heavy metal, but don't expect a consistent album. If you can live with several fillers, I'm sure you'll done fine with this. 70% from me