I've been sitting on this self-titled debut from Sacramento, CA's Helion Prime for a few months and now hearing it, shame on me. This is a sharp, well-written and entertaining slice of female-fronted Power Metal goodness. The band chooses to write about science/science fact topics like black holes, the space/time continuum, origins of life on Earth and the moon landing, a welcome departure from the usual fantasy and Heavy Metal fodder typical of Power Metal. The performances are very good overall but where Helion Prime shines is on tracks like "Into the Black Hole" and "Apollo/The Eagle has Landed." They are double-kick burners and the multi-tracking of the singer's vocals gives them a futuristic, almost robotic sound which takes these songs to a new level. No slouch at expressing emotion she also delivers a soulful performance on "A Place I Thought I Knew" which had me thinking of Autumn's Altitude album. I've been humming choruses from Helion Prime for a week, so color me impressed. Definitely check it out especially if a departure from typical Power Metal sounds good to you. You won't be disappointed.
