From the Depth is by far one of the most underrated power metal bands in the business. Since forming in early 2008, these Parma based metal heads never got the recognition they deserved, even from their debut EP entitled “The Will to Be the Flame”. But, in 2011 From the Depth released their first full album, Back to Life, a cocktail of power metal beauty containing: Shimmering keyboard solos, soaring vocal lines and fast paced symphonic metal anthems to create an album which will show the world why From the Depth deserved to be recognised. Crammed full of musical talent and flare, these guys can really play and aren’t pulling any punches when writing these killer songs!

The keyboard parts on Back to Life are what make this album so good. They add a contrast in musical style to the heavily aggressive guitar lines that are doing on in the background. Tracks like ‘Live For Today’, ‘Our Music Our Souls’ and ‘You Just Have to Fly’ all contain magical keyboard lines that will blow your mind when they smash through your speaker. Keyboard players never get the lime light, but on this album Davide Castro has his time to shine, showing that he is an extremely talented guy – putting his own personal touch into every song he performs on he is definitely one of the greatest power metal keyboard players in the business.

There are some pretty catchy moments on Back to life, and there are some pretty memorable choruses to back up these musically challenging songs. When the chorus from tracks like ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’, ‘Straight to the Source’ and ‘Nothing to You’ kicks in; you can’t help but sing along with Raffaele Albanese to the high pitched vocal cries present in each song. He is a stellar vocalist and it’s his unique and memorable voice which makes Back to Life such a great record.

There are a few tracks on Back to Life that do sound quite similar to each other and that is a bit of a disappointment as From the Depth are both talented musicians and writers. If the band had cut out some of the slower, mellower tracks on this album and replaced them with something different and unique – then Back to Life would be an outstanding album and From the Depth would be one of the finest power metal bands going. Remember this is only their debut full studio album, and if From the Depth take this into consideration on their next album and add a bit more diversity, then we could be looking at another huge power metal band being crowned.

For all you power metal fans out there you definitely need to buy a copy of Back to Life. They may not be re-making the wheel, but they are doing what they do best, writing and performing classic power metal anthems and blowing people’s minds with it! [8/10]