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Dushan Petrossi, otherwise known as Yngwie Malmsteen Mk II, is obviously the man behind Iron Mask and Magic Kingdom, though both acts are interchangeable (with the slight advantage going to Magic Kingdom due to Metallic Tragedy). Hordes Of The Brave was the second release from Iron Mask, and it's pretty much everything you'd expect from a scene that spawned At Vance, Signum Regis, Luca Turilli, The Armada and anyone else who took up Malmsteen's mantle. Petrossi goes the extra mile in that he actually looks like the guy, but his playing isn't quite as good here as it was on the second Magic Kingdom record, plus the songs are lacking in certain areas, not being catchy enough or produced to a decent degree. Revenge Is My Name might have been a shaky debut, but it had more heart than this; the best tracks are easily the ones that kick the album off, namely "Holy War" and "Freedom's Blood – The Patriot", cuts that at least have good momentum.

One thing that bothers me about this is the disjointed nature of the performers; we have Goetz Mohre singing most of it, but then Oliver Hartmann pops in for three of the better tunes. Also the drummer, Anton Arkhipov, plays all the keys (and there are a lot of them – just check out "The Invisible Empire"), and yet we have Space Odyssey's Richard Andersson playing the lead. It seems more like a project than a real band (a trait you can attribute to most of Petrossi's works). All things considered, this is still better than a lot of neo-classical Power Metal, very flashy and in your face, with artwork that looks like it came from the director's cut of Les Misérables. Do with it what you will.