Melodic Power Metal: Sunrise - Liberty (2007)

75 / 100

Liberty is a confident and heartfelt debut that clearly born from the Stratovarius lineage yet carried with youthful eagerness and melodic sincerity.

The year 2003 became an important one for Stratovarius with the release of Elements Pt. I, and for their child named Sunrise in Ukraine. That child was still in the process of growing and finally began speaking four years later through a debut album titled Liberty.

From the very first second of “Born to Find,” the son was already following in his father’s footsteps, with a keyboard pattern that immediately reminded me of “Hunting High and Low.” The tracklist clearly forms a transversal wave—rising, falling, then rising again—but things flatten out after “Inside of the Rising Sun,” even though the added local-language version of “Illusion of Life” closes things with enough melody and emotion, only becoming an issue when replaying the album several times. “Hear Me” delivers an old-school rock ballad in the vein of bands like Scorpions or Bon Jovi, centered on dramatic friendship rather than romance. The surprising part is “Stay with Me,” which carries a pop/punk rock character suited for teenagers and It doesn’t feel like an embarrassment to the album yet.

Sunrise was fortunate enough to be signed under Metalism Records, an Eastern European specialist label, for a debut, with the slightly raw drum and guitar production nuance on the power/speed staples like “Lie & Truth,” “Inside of the Rising Sun,” plus the indulgent tremolo style in “Gone with the Time.” Konstantin Naumenko firmly stamps the band’s identity through his distinctive high notes on “Inside of the Rising Sun,” and overall, his vocals carry shades of Michele Luppi from Vision Divine.

In the end, Sunrise is highly recommended for Stratovarius fans, and so far, I personally feel more satisfied with the band’s first performance than with their later side project, Delfinia. The three standout dishes have already been mentioned above, plus an honorable mention for “Can You Feel the Pain,” which turns out to be quite emotional with a chorus driven primarily by double pedal bass drums.