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...well there was Balflare's Sleepy Hollow in 2008... and I haven't heard every melodic and/or power metal album since fall 2009, but no one can make that claim.
ReinXeed captured me from my first ever listen to them (Invincible from their 2010 album, Majestic) and has struck me as the most refreshing taste of familiar melodic metal since Cain's Offering's "Gather the Faithful."
Let's look at that phrase, "refreshing taste of familiar melodic metal." It's one thing to be completely original and come up with a sound no one else has ever come close to, like what Blind Guardian did when they formed at the beginning of the 1990's, Manticora at the end of the 1990's, and Moonlight Agony (a power metal who took influences from Sentenced, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, and several power metal acts). It's another thing when you can be Paragon and not be a Running Wild clone, Scar Symmetry and not be a Soilwork clone, Graveland without being a Bathory clone, Norther without being a Children of Bodom clone, and Cain's Offering without being a Stratovarius OR Sonata Arctica clone. ReinXeed falls into the latter, and thus is an easy decision to add to your collection: YES!! (Don't get me wrong - I love the former, but there's a bit of a flood of that these days, and ReinXeed reminds me that metal is going in one too many different directions.)
What does ReinXeed sound like? First of all, Tommy Johansson released a demo, EP, and full-length album before recruiting members to play the instruments; before that, he played everything. This is common in black metal, but unheard of when we're talking quality melodic metal.
ReinXeed is no stranger to super-fast songs, and the band sounds like they're playing comfortably when they play at those insane speeds (such as in Invincible, or Terror Has Begun and Spirit Lives On from this album). Tommy's vocals are a treat to the ears - his sound is passionate and often tends towards the higher end. He can get UP, too, for some really, really high notes.
ReinXeed plays truly melodic metal and keeps it at that; there are no bone-crunching riffs (ala Grave Digger, Primal Fear, or Paragon), no dramatic passages (ala Stratovarius, Nightwish, After Forever, or Adagio), no epic-progressing songs (meaning that any longer songs are just drawn-out regular-formula songs), and no neoclassical passages (Stratovarius, Time Requiem, or Angra).
This review won't be complete without a discussion on the subject matter: the sinking of the Titanic 98 years before the release of this album. For me, my only exposure to Titanic metal is the Metal Church song, "Rest In Pieces (April 15, 1912)," and that song is MUCH more dramatic than ReinXeed ever gets. That song paints an atmosphere of panic: when they get to the part of the recounting where the ship hits the iceberg, the song speeds up to simulate the "what do we do now?" chaos that ensued. ReinXeed doesn't tell a chronological story that has a beginning, middle, or end. Some of the songs on this album can even be taken out of context. For example, "We Must Go Faster" can be listened to just for what the title says, and in that case, you have a song lyrically just like Secret Sphere's "Faster Than the Storm" from the Heart and Anger album (2005). This was my first ReinXeed album, and when deciding which one to buy first, my hesitation was: "Will the tragic subject matter affect the happy-go-lucky mood of ReinXeed?" Answer: Not at all. Keyboards and vocals remain high-pitched, just as they do on other albums; never do they get lower/creepier, ala Iced Earth in their song "Dante's Inferno" to portray the gloom-and-doom of the song. Just listen to a song like Terror Has Begun and you'll be surprised. The only possible exception to this is the album's opener - it's a tad slower, and is an alarming intro ala Lost Horizon's "A Flame to the Ground Beneath" or Adagio's "Underworld," but the speed picks up before you know it.
No one should pass up on this album. If you like even ½ of these bands I mentioned throughout (obviously excluding Soilwork and the like - I included those just to make my point), then ReinXeed will be a breath of your favorite fresh air from your favorite vacation destination.
(P.S. - If my "refreshing taste of familiar melodic metal" paragraph didn't convince you that I disagree with the 3/5 star review, then I'm telling you now: ReinXeed is deserving of more!)
