One of the best melodic power metal albums of 2011.

Max "Morton" Pasechnik? Anyone? No me neither but apparently the man is a famous record musician and producer from the Ukraine who has worked with many European metal bands over the years, none of which I'd ever heard of (to my shame). Max then decided that after working with all these different acts, it was high time he tried his hand at writing and recording his own album of power metal anthems. 'Come Read The Words Forbidden' is the fruit of this dream and if you have a hankering for bands who sound like Firewind, Astral Doors, Sonata Arctica, Hammerfall, Dream Evil and Bloodbound then this new album by Morton will be a very, very nice surprise for you indeed.

Morton (the band) play a heavy, powerful style of melodic metal, but lace their songs with driving guitars, big power chords, soaring vocals and generous doses of keyboards plus tons of melody, which all help to make the songs on 'CRTWF' a metal fans dream come true. Proceedings commence with 'Calling For The Storm' which kind of sets the tone for the rest of the album, as it blasts out of the starting gate like a thoroughbred race horse, guitars abound and vocals crack with a thunderous roar, but underneath all this power is a wonderful melodic undertow, that you can find infusing the songs throughout this album. Examples include 'The Brotherhood of Light' which has a heavy, complex guitar riff and an even more impressive chorus, one you can't help singing along with; 'Losing Faith' which races along at a breakneck pace yet never loses sight of the melody; the stunning 'Oblivion' a track that has all the best things associated with melodic power metal; 'Werewolf Hunt' where the superb vocals of Mr. Morton intertwine with the guitars of Roman Skorobagatko and Alexander Rudnev, to give you a song that leaves you gasping for breath as it thunders from the speakers; and finally I must mention 'Weeping Bell'- a song that diverges away from the other tracks on the album so violently that you can almost hear the screech of breaking metal (sorry). The song is slower, heavier and more doomy than anything that comes before, but it is also probably because of this, the most intense and enjoyable track on the album.

With a stellar production, wonderful performances a bunch of cracking songs, Morton and his compatriots have recorded what I can only describe as a killer record, one that any of the bands I mentioned above would be jealous of (yes it's that good), so where have you been all this time?

In finishing all I can say is that 'Come Read The Words Forbidden' is one of the best melodic power metal albums of 2011, so give it a try you'll be glad that you did.

Ian Johnson