Letter X - Time of the Gathering

Its melodic! Its progressive! Its power! and its all in one! Its Letter X! Who says you cant have all three in one sound?? If this album had been released recently instead of in 1991 it would have stirred up a bit more of a fan following, but as it is, Letter X remains in the abyss of bands you've never heard of, and the melodic/progressive community will probably leave it that way. But Letter X's (debut?) release, "Time of the Gathering" proves to be a very strong offering, capturing a bit of all worlds and delivering nicely, despite the rather generic progressive sounds. Vocalist Martin Obermeier has a very noticeable foriegn tilt to his voice, and sounds like a mix between Bert Herrink (Vandenberg) and Don Dokken, especially in the 'aahhh' sound. The axeslinging team of Rudiger Fleck and Joachim Gassmann do a commendable job, screaming guitar licks, high flying solos, tender acoustic runs and galloping riffs all combine together where necessary to make it very solid sounding.

Songs like "Time of the Gathering" show a perfect balance between the three elements. The choruses have a power feel, while musically it leans heavily toward the melodic progressive with a bit of a power punch to it. Songs like "Verdict" really flaunted the melodic side of the band with a classic melodic rock chorus that just screams 'replay me'. Along with very catchy guitar rhythms and a crisp vocal performance, this is one of the standouts of the disk. It kind of reminds me of some of Yngwie's "Eclipse"/"Odyssey" work when he was doing more poppish stuff and a dash of really thickly melodic material like Shy with some bite like Vengance and Vandenberg. "Leather on Leather" has kind of Manowar-ish feel in the sense of motorcyclist and chick tearing down the highway on their beast of steel. The deep melodic pull and exceptionally mixed drums that are just right there up front make it a joy to listen to. "Unknown Heroes" is heavily Pretty Maids influenced, while "Making My Way to the Light" has the fury of melodic-progressive speed metal. The showcase song of the album is definitely the touching ballad "Princess of the Dark", with its light hearted, yet passionate sound and lyrics. Mostly vocal driven with piano and violin supporting, and lots of electric filler for added dramatics during the chorus, the ballad is the spotlight song of this release. Crisp, clean vocals drive this song about fate leading the way to finding love in a bar, which is illustrated by the first verse. The rest of the lyrics flow rather magically and it makes me feel that the song would have been near perfection had it been in a more magical setting rather than such a traditional one, but its still a fine song reguardless of whether he fell in love after a few beers instead of in a more romantic setting. "Lost and Lonely" also serves as a pretty ballad but doesnt have the catchy elegance of "Princess of the Dark". The rest of the songs are fairly good, most falling within the speedier melodic progressiveness vein and some have slight touches of power metal to give the tunes a little more edge, but alas they still have this feeling that they are just fillers.