Avalon

The closest any band is going to come to being (or at least being proclaimed) original is by combining a genre or two, weaving it together and hoping it works out. Germany's Avalon is being touted as this grandiose, Asian-influenced power metal band, which, of course, is bound to pique interest in those tired of the same old same old. However, putting theory (or at least what's written in your bio) into practice isn't humanity's strong point and neither is it Avalon's. This band has the same problem that Nile did with their debut album. Specifically, all the Asian sounds, influence and instruments are delineated to intros and outros of basic metal tunes. In all actuality, Avalon didn't really blend and mesh to create anything original; they took a bunch of '80s sounding musician metal (i.e. Savatage) and a few Asian and Middle Eastern sounds and stuck them next to each other - big deal. The best part of this album is their cover of the soft rock classic "Kyrie," which should tell you something.