www.metal-observer.com (Alexander Melzer) First if all Enrique, this band is something for you, finally something with "seventh", lol. But seriously, when a newcomer band is praised as "BEST newcomer band from the Italian Metal scene", the album called "fantastic debut album" and the singer is heralded as the "new Metal queen", the alarms go off with me. Why? Because only too often these high flying praises in the end give way to nothing but warm air. Pffffffffffffft... The danger, of course, is that you build up such a negative mindframe that you might approach the band biased or even push off the reviewing of the CD. SEVENTH SEAL is the name of the band, "The Black Dragon's Eyes" the album, that this review is about and it has been a while that Italy had produced a really outstanding newcomer in the Power/Symphonic Metal genre, which in the end also deserved the laurels. Altogether the quintet around singer Chiara Luci presents us with eight own compositions and two bonus cover versions to prove that they indeed are the next big thing since the invention of the frozen pizza. Opener "The Ways Of The World" right away hands out the typical Italian, heavily triggered drum sound, paired with high speed, so a typical Power Metal opener? Basically yes, even though SEVENTH SEAL do not overdo it with bombast and the happy melodies, contrary to many of their countrymen and Chiara also has a powerful voice, which fits the music very well and does not even try to venture into any operatic regions. Basically it is not the archetypical Italo-Power-Speed, that we are treated with by the quintet, but they at times have a certain Eighties touch, which sets them apart from the rest of the pack, as the following title track "The Black Dragon's Eyes" shows. "Living For Honour (The Gladiator)" is the most probably best track on "The Black Dragon's Eyes", melodic, heavy, with great dynamics and powerful vocals by Chaira Luci, good one! "Midnight Train" also unpacks quite some punch, may the lady and gentlemen indeed manage to follow up the big words of their label? In the course of the album the earlier albums of WHITE SKULL come to my mind a bit, even though SEVENTH SEAL do not fully reach the class of their countrymen, but still, a certain soul relation cannot be denied. What follows after these tracks is definitely no bad material, but they still do not reach those two tracks. Even though the influences come through a bit stronger (apart from the very variable "The Unicorn"), I can say that these Italians are not content with just rehashing the already used ingredients. The choice of the afore mentioned cover versions has been interesting and relatively typical. The interesting one is called "Thundersteel" and originally has been done by American RIOT, the typical one is titled "I'm Alive" and is, exactly, the HELLOWEEN classic. The former is played quite furiously and comes over really well, while with "I'm Alive" I have to say that it is a song that is hard to adequately cover and even though SEVENTH SEAL don't do a bad job here, they are too close to the original (apart from the vocals, of course) to talk about a real "version". Still well done. So in the end I cannot fully attribute SEVENTH SEAL with all the collected highlights from the info sheet, for that it at times is too obvious that "The Black Dragon's Eyes" is a debut, but the will and the potential to differ definitely are there and who has an interest in this music should still give these Italians a chance, because the probability that you might like them is not that small indeed. (Online December 16, 2003) Alexander Melzer (Score 7/10)

www.rockunited.com Italian metal is a force to be reckon with nowadays... in opposite to the dark ages... during most part of the 80s, I guess??? The likes of Dark Star & Death SS, etc, never created much buzz or interest outside of Italy. Things are looking up though and especially Power Metal, with the likes of Rhapsody and Labyrinth upfront, is definitly on the rise. Seventh Seal was formed back in 1996 and the band played classic metal with Italian lyrics, at the beginning. They switched however to using the English language during the later part of 1999. They actually add another dimension to the average 'trottle metal' material, with the aid of female singer Chiara Luci, and her very powerful vocal ability. Trust me... this kitten got claws and she's not afraid to use them either. It's otherwise Euro Power Metal with amazing double-bass assault, and flashy twin-guitar work. The guitarists Pasquale Bianco & Francesco Fanciullotti, are swaping lead position with each other, like two race cars down at Monza, throughout the whole CD. This makes the guitarwork very interesting and you can almost compare them with Murray/Smith (Iron Maiden), and most of all Hansen/Weikath (Helloween). Produced at "Studio Zenith" by Frank Andver (Labyrinth, Shadows Of Steel, etc), "The Black Dragon's Eye", is a nice piece of craftsmanship. Highlights include the title track, "Only A Dream", and the smashing "Riding The Waves", with lots of Helloween and Gamma Ray influences. Besides the eight tracks of own material, you'll also find covers of Riot's "Thundersteel" and Helloween's "I'm Alive". Sadly, you'll also notice how superior these cover songs are comparing to the others. A nice debut album, even if they need to work more on their songwriting skills in the future. Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom 15 December 2003 ^^^

www.rockunited.com Italian metal is a force to be reckon with nowadays... in opposite to the dark ages... during most part of the 80s, I guess??? The likes of Dark Star & Death SS, etc, never created much buzz or interest outside of Italy. Things are looking up though and especially Power Metal, with the likes of Rhapsody and Labyrinth upfront, is definitly on the rise. Seventh Seal was formed back in 1996 and the band played classic metal with Italian lyrics, at the beginning. They switched however to using the English language during the later part of 1999. They actually add another dimension to the average 'trottle metal' material, with the aid of female singer Chiara Luci, and her very powerful vocal ability. Trust me... this kitten got claws and she's not afraid to use them either. It's otherwise Euro Power Metal with amazing double-bass assault, and flashy twin-guitar work. The guitarists Pasquale Bianco & Francesco Fanciullotti, are swaping lead position with each other, like two race cars down at Monza, throughout the whole CD. This makes the guitarwork very interesting and you can almost compare them with Murray/Smith (Iron Maiden), and most of all Hansen/Weikath (Helloween). Produced at "Studio Zenith" by Frank Andver (Labyrinth, Shadows Of Steel, etc), "The Black Dragon's Eye", is a nice piece of craftsmanship. Highlights include the title track, "Only A Dream", and the smashing "Riding The Waves", with lots of Helloween and Gamma Ray influences. Besides the eight tracks of own material, you'll also find covers of Riot's "Thundersteel" and Helloween's "I'm Alive". Sadly, you'll also notice how superior these cover songs are comparing to the others. A nice debut album, even if they need to work more on their songwriting skills in the future. Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom 15 December 2003 ^^^

enjoyed the cd thank you good service a quick too