After first listening to this CD which left me a little bit astonished, I listened once again to SevenGates' "The Good and the Evil", an album from a band with 10 years of history. The road SevenGates followed to achieve this great, amazing Power Metal is full of tribute songs and cover songs of the greatest metal bands, such as Helloween, Stratovarius (and this is why they have all my esteem), Iron Maiden. My approval is total for this CD. You can hear some influence from those bands I mentioned before, but the technical abilities and style they have on this CD are amazing and give me shivers! Federico Puleri's vocals are amazing and he can be compared to the greatest power metal singers in the world. Also the lyrics are very good in addition to the vocal abilities. As for the rest of the band? Perfect! The guitar riffs by Tommy Vitaly and Marco Moroni are powerful, driving, obsessive, and the very fast drum sections by Lorenzo Innocenti take your breath away and go with the rhythmic section of the bass by Simone Vermigli and keyboards by Fabrizio Marnica, whom demonstrate a symphonic and aggressive style. The CD starts with the powerful "Message to the Stars" and the enviable "Vengeance", very much in a Maiden style! Then a couple of more "relaxing" tracks such as "I Don't Believe", which sincerely left me not very impressed, perhaps for its repetitive sound. Then "The Dragon' Kiss" left me without words! A song which deserves a special mention and that seemed to reach the ultrasounds, with it's keyboards at the speed of light and it's omnipresent drums. But Federico's vocals are always above it all!! "Ride the Wild" and "Freedom" did not excite me very much, but I appreciated them as well. How can I fail to mention the amazing performance of this band that doesn't waste a single note? These two tracks are always at a high level, with never an error, even in the high-range vocal notes, which reach for the divine! Perhaps the only negative thing I can say is about repetition, but it's not monotony, it's a chosen way of style. The two songs "Cry of Efestus" and "Honour and Pride" are good, while "17" left me unsatisfied both due to the composition and because the only number I love in a song is 666 by Iron Maiden. Refined melodies and powerful vocals are everywhere in the CD, especially in the atmospheric "Burning Clouds", where a melancholy intro opens the way for the drums, running like a crazy train, and surrounding the guitars. I have to say this is the song where I noticed the best union between all the instruments and the vocals. We all have to thank the band for the free download of this album on their website www. sevengates. it. What are you waiting for? You can enjoy "The Good and the Evil" if you will leave behind all the prejudices for the "Lords" of Power! Enjoy listening!