Metal Underground.com

Thrash and power metal are both genres requiring speed and technical ability. Where power metal soars with falsetto vocals and shrieking solos, thrash often growls with guttural vocals and chugging guitars. That Sinflower combines the two genres so well on "For All You Left Behind" is a testament to the band's playing and songwriting skills.

The disc opens with "I Feel," which is pure thrash in its early moments, with Marco Cioni going nuts behind the drum kit. Suddenly, it shifts gears 30 seconds in, with a high power metal lead supported by a thrash rhythm guitar. Instrumentally, things have gotten so interesting that it's not the biggest problem in the world that Antonio Bosi's vocals get covered up quite a bit.

Actually, it's rather unfortunate, because Bosi's got an interesting vocal tone that's somewhere between the super-clean power metal sound and a James Hetfield growl. Fortunately, Bosi's not so overpowered on the title track, "For All You Left Behind," which features him and the band veering more into the thrash side of their musical equation.

Bosi and Matteo Osservanti's twin-guitar assault never fails to propel the songs along well, with solos that feel like a natural extension of the melody rather than being an excuse for noodling, as is often the case with power metal. That said, "I Hate Liars I Hate You" has some jerky guitar parts that slowed things up just a bit.

If I had to pick a favorite song on the album, it would probably be "Stay Out," which is an interesting fusion of power metal and punk attitude. It's fun enough that I'll forget that the lyrics are actually pretty silly if you listen close enough.

I'm pretty ambivalent on "You Don't Know All This," the ballad that "officially" closes the disc, but the hidden song that follows it races along at a pretty good clip.

All in all, Sinflower's "For All You Left Behind" is an impressive combination of the thrash and power metal genres that should appeal to fans of both.