A lot can happen in seven years. It took seven years for Alexander The Great to conquer Persia, roughly the same as Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and Theocracy can release a new album! Yes, not since 2016 has the progressive power metal unit unleashed a full-length album, the mostly well-received "Ghost Ship," and now they return with some new faces in the lineup and new songs to play. With "Mosaic," Theocracy seeks to give their fans everything they could want and entice newcomers to the flock as well, and few can argue that they've done just that.

"Mosaic" is definitely an apt name for the record, as there are so many parts that are used to create it. Obviously, there's both the power and progressive metal, but even the opening song, "Flicker" has traces of J-rock in it, just to really add some extra spice. It all makes for a really energetic track that gets the blood pumping, the head nodding, and the foot tapping. Newcomers to the group may struggle to take in the vocals at first but they're soon gotten used to and quite vital to the sound of the band, as evidenced on "Return To Dust" and the beautiful ballad, "The Greatest Hope."

The album is like a bottomless case with so much to unpack and almost all of it lands. The guitars are absolutely fantastic, shining particularly bright on the title track, which has shades of 1980s heavy metal and is a great reminder of that feeling of wonder most metal fans experienced when they were kids discovering this kind of music. Elsewhere there's a brilliant solo on "Liar, Fool Or Messiah," which itself is one of the best songs on this stacked album, while some meaty grooves can be heard on "Anonymous" and "Deified," not to mention the Megadeth-like intensity of "Sinsidious (The Dogs Of War.)"

Undoubtedly though, the song which will be most talked about is the final track, "Red Sea." As you may have guessed from the title, it's a song revolving around the story of Moses and it borders on being operatic with so many moving parts and passages that cover the Biblical tale from beginning to end. Some parts are more intriguing than others of course, though none of them fall flat as such. Clocking in at nineteen minutes, it leaves the listener with a lot of time to think, particularly in the instrumental segments. The most prominent thought is, "Why am I spending nearly twenty minutes hearing a story that was covered in a third of the time by The Simpsons?" It's obviously a pivotal part of the Bible, but it's a story everyone knows, making it akin to writing a song about the three little pigs or Little Red Riding Hood, only without any wolves. "Red Sea" is a good track, one with a lot to offer musically, but given its length and subject matter, the piece asks a lot from the audience.

So at the end of it all, we're left with a really strong album that demonstrates Theocracy's skill in both progressive and power metal, with some thrash thrown in for good measure. The band has clearly put a tremendous amount of work into this release and it's paid off big time. It's very enjoyable and it should help win plenty of new fans the world over, as well as provide a thrilling return for longtime fans who've missed them. Let's just hope it won't be another seven years before Theocracy graces our ears with another full-length release.