Those of you who know your onions will already be aware that Sweden’s Prime Creation are basically Morifade with a different singer; Now on their second album, the band continue to move away from their origins, in the process creating some eminently listenable heavy metal.

Tears of Rage is pretty straightforward stuff; solid barrages of double kick drum from Kim Arnell generally lay the foundation in tandem with bassist Henrik Weimedal, upon which Robin Arnell (lead) and Rami Tainamo (rhythm) run the gamut of HM guitar styles, Arnell topping everything off with some superb soloing. Esa Englund is a classy vocalist, able to live with whatever the instrumentalists throw at him without ever sounding strained or in any way troubled. Walk Away sounds epic, despite only clocking in at a tad over four minutes in length, with Englund’s emotional yet commanding vocal delivery casting the track firmly into Evergrey territory.

However for the most part, if we’re talking comparisons, the band come on like a slightly-less-heavy version of what compatriots Syron Vanes are churning out at the moment. Lost In The Skies features a nice vocal refrain but doesn’t quite follow through on the promise of that bit of skill, whilst occasionally the band seem to pull themselves back from the brink of actually putting the pedal to the metal and damning the torpedoes. This is a little frustrating, as there’s clearly talent to burn in this band as the album’s longest and most ambitious track, A Beggar’s Call, would attest. And just occasionally you find yourself wishing that they’d back themselves to just go for it as they do here.

Still, that shouldn’t deter you from giving this a listen, as there’s plenty of well put together metal on offer if this style of melodic metal is your thing. Prime Creation are slowly forging their own way, and there are certainly enough moments of grandeur here to suggest they are heading in the right direction on Tears of Rage.

Tears Of Rage is out now.