Melodic Power Metal: Sunrise - Trust Your Soul (2009)

79 / 100

Trust Your Soul is a lively but uneven second step—bursting with energetic highlights and a handful of surprisingly atmospheric moments, yet held back by production flaws and several weaker ballads.

Returning once again to one of Stratovarius’ musical offspring, we have Sunrise with their second album, Trust Your Soul, which chronologically follows their “father’s” Polaris in the same year, 2009, though no exact release date is listed. Additionally, two musicians who were listed as full members on the previous album—Alexander Nazarenko (bass) and Vladimir Ovcharov (guitar)—appear here only as guest performers.

Perhaps due to issues with the platform or the quality of the files available, there’s noticeable cymbal compression on “Trust Your Soul,” “You and Me,” “Dreamer Online,” and the bonus track “Дух Всесвіту.” Even so, the tracks with the most potential overall are “You and Me” and “Дух Всесвіту.” Meanwhile, bursts of energy surface in “All This Time,” “Man in the World,” and “Forgotten Secrets.” There’s even a slightly worrying moment for me in the form of an Alexi Laiho–style scream at the intro of “Man in the World,” though thankfully it appears only once there, plus a single growl during the second verse of “Forgotten Secrets.” Yeah, I’m not too fond of beauty-and-the-beast pairings in power metal, even if this one isn’t nearly as intense as Invisible Fortress – "Descent", which still sits on my favorites playlist.

Structurally, the tracklist mirrors Liberty quite closely—something like a transversal wave: midtempo → upbeat → ballad → repeat—and I think there are even more ballads this time. These include “Love Will Set You Free,” “Tell Me Why,” and “Invisible Place,” none of which I feel compelled to revisit, as they just don’t reach the emotional weight of Sunrise’s better ballads. The track that actually won me over was “Hey!,” which carries a surprisingly atmospheric flow.

Now, about similarities: only two tracks immediately reminded me of others. The verse melody in “All This Time” sounds quite close to the chorus of “Alethea” by Dreamyth (which would come years later), and the keyboard rhythm in “Relax” still echoes Stratovarius’ “Hunting High and Low,” just like Sunrise’s own early track “Born to Find.” Sunrise really does seem obsessed with their “father,” don’t they?

So, I don’t think I’ll be giving this album as high a score as what I’ve seen on Metal Archives—even though, to be fair, I’d pick more tracks from this one than from Liberty. Maybe I need to try a different version or a different platform, like Bandcamp, to get a better listening experience.