┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │■ ■│ │ .-/ .-. │ │ _.-~ / ___ | ~-._ │ │ \:/ -~| / __/| .\:/ │ │ / || (:/:| \ │ │ / /\/| |:\___\| |\ \ │ │ / /:::|.::/:::/:.|:\ \ │ │ / /:::/ \\/:::/::/:::\ \ │ │ / .::\ \-~~~~-/\/:.. \ │ │ /..:::::\ /:::::..\ │ │ /::::::::- -::::::::\ │ │ \:::::-~ ~-:::::/ │ │ \:-~ ~-:/ │ │ METAL CLASSICS ARCHIVE │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ P R E S E N T S │ │ │ │ │ │ + Prodigal Earth - Zenith II Zero + │ │ │ │ │ │╔═════════════════════╗ │ │║ Release Information ║ │ │╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Release Date.Jan-22-2012 Encoder......L3.97 -V2 --vbr-new ║ │ │║ Genre........Heavy Metal Graber.......EAC ║ │ │║ Year.........2009 Khz/Bitrate..44,1/ Br ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Ripper.......anthem Songs........11 ║ │ │║ Covers.......Yes Url... www.prodigalearth.com ║ │ │║ ║ │ │╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │╔═════════════════════╗ │ │║ Release Notes ║ │ │╠═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════╗ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Artist : Prodigal Earth Rating : You Decide! ║ │ │║ Album : Zenith II Zero Label : Pitch Black ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ ║ │ │╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Description : ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ A bit less than a year ago Pitch Black Records, ║ │ │║ a young Cyprus-based label, sent me their first ║ │ │║ offering, Diphtheria - To Wait For Fire (you can ║ │ │║ find the review here) and now I'm holding their ║ │ │║ second release in my hands, "Zenith II Zero" by ║ │ │║ Prodigal Earth. On this album the vocal ║ │ │║ performance is delivered by Nicholas Leptos, who ║ │ │║ also sings in the Cypriot bands Diphtheria and ║ │ │║ Arryan Path. I suppose in the metal scene of ║ │ │║ Cyprus pretty much everyone knows everyone ║ │ │║ anyway. ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ So anyway, what does Pitch Black Records give us ║ │ │║ with their second release? "Zenith II Zero" is ║ │ │║ pretty high quality oldschoolish melodic heavy ║ │ │║ metal with some power metal thrown in as well. ║ │ │║ Of course Iron Maiden is the first band that ║ │ │║ comes to my mind as comparison. The music is ║ │ │║ mainly guitar-oriented in a really cool way. On ║ │ │║ 11 tracks Prodigal Earth smack us with a ║ │ │║ multitude of tasty riffs, leads and solos, ║ │ │║ following up every great guitar part with ║ │ │║ another one. The two guitarists both did an ║ │ │║ excellent job on this CD, a big thumbs up to ║ │ │║ them! The aforementioned singer also does a ║ │ │║ pretty good job, nothing really outstanding, but ║ │ │║ versatile and always very solid. ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ As the album goes on, it becomes obvious that ║ │ │║ the gap in quality between some songs is quite ║ │ │║ big. There are totally awesome tracks like ║ │ │║ "Broken World" and "God's Children" but others ║ │ │║ like "Crossroads" are completely forgettable. ║ │ │║ Further this release has two big drawbacks. The ║ │ │║ first one is the production. It's not extremely ║ │ │║ bad, but it's just obvious that this CD could ║ │ │║ have been better if for example the drums would ║ │ │║ have been produced better and the mixing would ║ │ │║ have put more emphasis on the catchy, powerful ║ │ │║ vocal parts. The second shortcoming is about ║ │ │║ just that, there aren't enough really catchy ║ │ │║ sing-along parts (and often the catchiest parts ║ │ │║ that would have been awesome refrains aren't ║ │ │║ used a second time ("Broken World" comes to ║ │ │║ mind)). Furthermore, the whole music and lyrics ║ │ │║ are a bit cheesy, which might put some people ║ │ │║ off, I personally don't mind at all though. ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Despite these weaknesses "Zenith II Zero" is a ║ │ │║ debut album these Cypriots can be proud of. The ║ │ │║ music is captivating, some of the songs are ║ │ │║ really great, the musicians pull off a fine job, ║ │ │║ some of the guitar parts being downright ║ │ │║ fantastic, there's enough versatility between ║ │ │║ the songs and in the songs themselves and all in ║ │ │║ all this is a really solid CD. I definitely ║ │ │║ recommend fans of melodic heavy metal and ║ │ │║ oldschool power metal to check this one out and ║ │ │║ am pretty curious about what these guys will be ║ │ │║ able to offer us with their second album. ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ LINE-UP ║ │ │║ Nicholas Leptos: vocals ║ │ │║ Antonis Mavrou: guitars ║ │ │║ Socrates Leptos: guitars ║ │ │║ Paris Lambrou: bass ║ │ │║ Nicholas Philippou: drums ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ DISCOGRAPHY ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ Zenith II Zero Full-length 2009 ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ ║ │ │║ ║ │ │╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │╔═════════════════════╗ │ │║ Release Tracklist ║ │ │╚═════════════════════╩══════════════════════════════════════════ │ │ │ │ 01 - Disaster 121 [04:54] │ │ 02 - Broken World [04:06] │ │ 03 - Lonely Gods [04:06] │ │ 04 - Once Upon A Crime [05:22] │ │ 05 - Crossroads [05:15] │ │ 06 - God┤s Children [04:44] │ │ 07 - The Young Ones [03:15] │ │ 08 - Will To Live [07:02] │ │ 09 - The End (Ashes Of Desire Pt. 1) [06:29] │ │ 10 - Pro Defunctis [04:18] │ │ 11 - Pro Defunctis (Bonus - Alternate Version) [04:16] │ │ │ │ Total Length : [53:47 minn │ │ │ │ │ │ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ╔═════════════════════╗ │ │ ║ Greetings To: ║ │ │ ╚═════════════════════╝ │ │ │ │ Too all people who contributes to make this │ │ archive of good music in a exceptional conditions │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │■ ■│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘