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Back in high school, during my first dance with the Power Metal genre, I discovered a delicious pair of albums that have since gone the way of the blue suede shoe. Both the self-titled debut and its follow up, Crossroad, from Sweden's The Storyteller, remained firm fixtures on my portable CD player for almost a year before I graduated, and even now I bust them out from time to time. They remain special, despite many advances in the genre, not because of their uniqueness, but due to what each band member brought to the style. It was heavily unfashionable, appealed to a limited audience, and yet The Storyteller played it like the world was coming to an end. To this day, I get chills when the first melody opens "And The Legend Begins".

As you might've guessed from the name and artwork, there is a concept to this, a fantasy narrative about a journey to find a lost book. Musically, The Storyteller take us through every emotion, every plot twist, and when following the story, tracks like "Sense Of Steel" and "Power Within" come alive. Backed by a powerfully rich production, the dense guitars of Fredrik Groth are both mystical and immediate. Vocalist/bassist L-G Persson has a deep, resonant voice, recalling Matthias Blad (as it happens, Falconer are a good comparison, both in theme and sound). For the most part, The Storyteller operate on a fast song/slow song basis, with the ballads coming across as breaks in the journey or bard songs, depending on the lyrical content. As per usual, the double-kicked tracks take the lead, and they are some of the best in the genre. Opener "Guardians Of Kail" is perhaps the finest song here, with its catchy refrain and expositional lyrics, but others like "Book Of Mystery" are strong rivals.

I'm sentimental when it comes to this album, but it remains a passionate, escapist display of melodic and medieval Power Metal that fans of the genre need in their lives, especially if the state of the scene in the late 90s reminds you of better times.