Album review : RISEN ATLANTIS feat: FRANK BECK – Power To The Past

Frontiers Music [Release Date : 26.09.25]

Singer, Frank Beck, touring sideman with Kai Hansen’s Gamma Ray for many years, now gets his solo opportunity.

Risen Atlantis is the brainchild of Alessandro Del Vecchio, writer, producer, musician, commonly associated with Frontiers Music.

What they’ve gone for is a “modern power metal album with an 80s spirit”.

According to Metal Hammer magazine, the term ‘Power Metal’ was first used in the context of the ‘Power of Metal’ tour by Gamma Ray, Rage and Conception in 1993.

So there’s a strong thread linking Gamma Ray, Kai Hansen, Beck and the music of Risen Atlantis.

The album’s title, Power To The Past makes much more sense against this backdrop.

Apart from the occasional dalliance with a more Symphonic Metal style, there’s no significant reimagining. Beck thumbs through the big book of Power Metal’s greatest moments, and he sticks pretty rigidly to the script.

Credit to axeman (and co songwriter), Brett Jones, for bringing many of these tracks to life, greatly assisted by Del Vecchio’s classy contribution of piano and keyboards.

Early on, DV’s balletic intro to ‘Glory To The Brave’ in particular raises everybody’s game. It’s like a challenge, quickly taken up by Jones and eventually Beck. The song’s title is a clue to its lyrical content.

The stomping, pounding ‘Legacy Divine’ spills over into Gamma Ray territory. It’s close to pastiche, but thanks to Jones (and Mirko De Maio’s driving, insistent beat) it has enough ballast to keep righting itself.

DV’s orchestral arrangement on ‘Sea Of Tranquility’ and ‘Trapped In Heaven’ sounds amazingly dramatic and vibrant. The clean lines and elegant contours of the choral work edge the songs closer to Symphonic Metal than Power Metal, and are all the better for it.

To an extent that trend continues with ‘No Hell For The Good’ and ‘Power To The Past’, both blending Symphonic and Power metal elements with skill and imagination.

The turbulent ‘Wrong Destiny’ and ‘A Million Miles Away’ return us emphatically to the world of Power Metal, ending where we began. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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