UMUR "The Long Road Home" is the 5th full-length studio album by Canadian progressive/ power metal act Empyria. The album was released by Nightmare Records in June 2009. According to the liner notes in the booklet the songs are a mix of demo material, older unreleased material and new material. All songs are specifically recorded for this album though. One other thing I noticed reading the booklet is that Empyria emphasize that all audio tracks on the album are one takes, which in my understanding means, that there are no overdubs on the basic guitar, bass and drums tracks (feel free to correct me if I´m wrong). As they say in the booklet: "In keeping with our beliefs all tracks were performed live as full takes. Each in their entirety. By Humans. Not machines". A philosophy that demands respect in my book. There´s been a couple of lineup changes since their last album as former bassist/ lead vocalist Paul Falcon has returned to the fold to play bass on the album and Scott Gamble is the new drummer in the band.

The last album release by Empyria was "Sense of Mind" from 2002. So it´s been seven years between albums for Empyria but listening to "The Long Road Home" those years have more or less gone by unnoticed if you judge by the music style on the album. In the case of Empyria that´s definitely not a bad thing though as their progressive US power metal is a strong and powerful brew. "The Long Road Home" features several strong tracks and just to mention a few I think the strong album opener "The Endless Circle" (probably my favorite track by the band so far), "False Witness", the closing track "Returning Home" and another favorite of mine "Without Within" are some of the highlights on "The Long Road Home". All tracks on "The Long Road Home" have a consistent high quality level though. The heavy yet melodic guitars, the hard driving rythm section and the powerful and skilled lead vocalist Philip Leite are all defining for the heavy progressive power metal of Empyria.

The sound quality is excellent. A really powerful sound that suits the music well.

In my review of "Sense of Mind" I made comparisons to acts such as Fates Warning, Queensrÿche and Crimson Glory but acts such as Metal Church and Savatage are also valid references IMO. "The Long Road Home" is another great album by Empyria and fans of US influenced power metal with progressive elements are adviced to check out this album. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.

UMUR "Sense of Mind" is the 4th full-length studio album by Canadian progressive/ power metal act Empyria. I haven´t listened to any of the three albums that came before "Sense of Mind" so this is my first encounter with the band.

The music on the album is in US power metal style with some progressive elements. The US part is important to mention here as the music on "Sense of Mind" has little to do with the whimsical keyboard dominated European power metal style. Comparisons to acts such as Metal Church, Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, Crimson Glory and Heir Apparent are apparent. The music on this album is what my mamma used to call "real" metal. Heavy guitar riffing, a powerful lead vocalist and a great pounding rythm section. There are sporadic use of keyboards and piano on the album, but the dominant instruments are guitar, bass and drums. Lead singer Philip Leite is a real treat IMO. in addition to being a really skilled vocalist he also has a great voice for this kind of music. If I have to make comparisons to one of the better known vocalists in the genre it would be Ray Alder (Fates Warning, Engine, Redemption). The rythm section is as mentioned really strong but in the instrumental department I must admit that I mostly focus on the excellent guitar work by guitarist Mike Kischnick (Thor, Severed Serenity). Heavy, powerful riffs and great melodic solos are played with ease. Most songs on the album flat out rock and there are no better examples of that than "Ties That Blind" and "Heaven´s Cry". The latter mentioned even has an almost thrashy opening riff not far removed from the famous "Symphony of Destruction" main riff by Megadeth. The slightly progressive edge that sometimes occur in the music can be heard on songs like "In God´s Hands", "Prejudice Reigns" and "Forever".

The sound production is good. The guitar is loud and raw, The vocals are high but balanced in the mix and the rythm section sounds powerful too. I appreciate that the production is not too polished, which sometimes kills the power in music like this.

I´ve really enjoyed my first encounter with Empyria and "Sense of Mind" is highly recommendable to fans of old school eighties US power metal/ progressive metal. A 3.5 star rating is warranted.

Sinkadotentree I just found out about this band recently which is kind of surprising considering they are from Canada too.I loved this from the very first listen as it has that sort of eighties Metal flavour going for it.It's melodic with excellent instrumental work that isn't that complex but extremely well done.The vocals are different and probably the deal breaker for most.He sounds similar to Bon Scott which is a good thing of course but he can get a little wild at times.The focus of this EP is the almost 25 minute "Darkness Suite" i'll call it.It opens and closes with nature sounds but in between we get lots of mood and tempo shifts,it's a real ride.They end the album with a cover of THE POLICE's "Synchronicity II" which pales when compared to the original but it's okay,and they end it with an acoustic track of their own. I really like their style and look forward to listening to their most recent release.