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November 2023

• High Spirits: Safe On The Other Side
• Signum Regis: Undivided
• DGM: Life
• Soledriver: Return Me To Light
• Care Of Night: Reconnected
• Secret Sphere: Blackened Heartbeat
• Seventh Crystal: Infinity EP
• Angra: Cycles Of Pain
• Hugo's Voyage: Inception
• DMJ: Sophomore
• Temple Balls: Avalanche
• Ignescent: Fight In Me

October 2023

• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Spooky Action At A Distance
• Overland: S.I.X
• Vitalines: Wheels Within Wheels
• Lynch Mob: Babylon
• District 97: Stay For The Ending
• Lalu: The Fish Who Wanted To Be King
• Entierro: The Gates Of Hell
• Nitrate: Feel The Heat
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• Theocracy: Mosaic
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• Ronnie Atkins: Trinity

September 2023

• Rockett Love: Galactic Circus
• Kerrigan: Bloodmoon
• Taz: Shipwrecked, Vol 2
• Taz: Wake Up & Sweat, Vol 1
• Ronnie Romero: Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters
• The Flower Kings: Look At You Now
• Vega: Battlelines
• Blackbird Angels: Solsorte
• Primal Fear: Code Red
• Eclipse: Megalomanium
• Seventh Wonder: Mercy Falls (Reissue 2008/2023)
• Seventh Wonder: The Great Escape (Reissue 2010/2023)

August 2023

• Hurricane: Reconnected
• U.D.O.: Touchdown
• Streetlight: Ignition
• Sarayasign: The Lion's Road
• Neal Morse: The Dreamer - Joseph - Part One
• Rian: Wings
• Icon Of Sin: Legends
• Lancer: Tempest
• King Kobra: We Are Warriors
• Dark Sky: Signs Of The Time
• Hell In The Club: F.U.B.A.R.
• Kent Hilli: Nothing Left To Lose

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Lostpray: That's Why

Melodic Hard Rock/Metal

4.5/5.0

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Pure Steel Records
Words: Craig Hartranft  Added: 17.09.2014

With members from both Turkey and Ukraine, Lostpray arrives with their debut album, That's Why. Their music is a hybrid of sorts, a mixture of melodic hard rock with the edge of traditional heavy metal. Something not uncommon across the genres. Something of interest, however, comes from the fact that vocalist Tufan Cigdem was a contestant on the Ukrainian version of The Voice.

Lostpray: framed.

And his voice is a curious thing, in a good way. On some songs, in combination with the music, he has the timbre of Metallica's James Hetfield. You might catch this on Alienation, The Blessed One, and The Story Ain`t Like No One Knows. Cigdem has a powerful and soaring voice, easily the centerpiece of the song Zero to Hero. He's more soulful, less hard rock and metal, on Killing Me.

Mentioning that venerable band is not to say that Lostpray is trying to sound like Metallica, yet the influences are obvious. There's more here like some additional nods to more popular and modern post grunge sensibility, notably within Killing Me and By My Dame. Alternatively, Lostpray can be keenly heavy, even thrashing, with Speakers of Evil. Again some of that Metallica vibe, like Creeping Death vibe, may come through. But the significant thing about Lostpray is that their music stays sharp, sounds fresh, with strong well-developed arrangements that juxtapose heaviness with melody, harmony, and catchy hooks. Armed with Cigdem's impressive vocals they've crafted some entertaining songs with their fusion of heavy metal and hard rock. Honestly, I was both surpised and impressed by the band and the depth of their music. Easily recommended.

LostPray - The Story (Movie Trailer)

While comparisons will be made, at times, to a certain iconic metal band, Lostpray fuses the best of classic heavy metal with accessibility of traditional and modern melodic hard rock for an entertaining and surprising album.

Alphabetical Index

We haven't had a new studio album from Brazil's Angra since prior to the COVID pandemic, 2018's Omni. But the quintet has been busy. In 2021, they released Omni Live in Japan where they have a huge fan base ... [ Read More ]