Power & Traditional Metal is the theme of Disc 2. On this CD, we’re treated to bands ranging from Dio to Nevermore, from Motorhead to Mystic Prophecy and from Brainstorm to Feinstein. Both of Dio’s performances here, “Holy Diver” and “Don’t Talk To Strangers” are stellar! “In The Land Of The Dead” from Mystic Prophecy, Blaze Bayley’s solo take on Iron Maiden’s “Fear Of The Dark,” and Feinstein’s “Rebelution” are among the highlights of this disc.

We’re treated to some lesser known bands on Disc 3, labeled “Underground.” Bands include Hobbs Angel Of Death, Griffin, Raunchy, Zodiac Mindwarp & Gun Barrel, as well as even lesser known acts such as Gutbucket, Thora and Reckless Tide. Nope, I’ve never heard of them either. This makes for a nice cross-section of bands ranging from Traditional Metal to Thrash to Gothic Metal. Good to have if you’re into digging deep into the dirt of the Metal Underground.

The sound quality here is superb, and judging by the occasional out of key vocal, I’d say none of it is overdubbed. There is a lot of crowd participation and energy to boot. Plus, with each CD offering a taste of a different genre, this is one no collector of Heavy Metal can be without.

I wasn’t disappointed with the selection here. The music ranges from the gothic tones of Lacuna Coil to the commercial sounds of Lullacry to the punk of My Ruin. As you’d expect, the usual suspects deliver the strongest performances, Lacuna Coil’s “Unspoken” from Comalies (isn’t it about time for a new album for crying out loud?), Tiamat’s “Carry Your Cross and I Will Carry Mine” (so they’re not a female-fronted band, on this song they are) and Arch Enemy’s “Leader of the Rats.” I know, based on browsing the bulletin boards, that I’m risking ostracism here by saying Arch Enemy is a highlight, but as an old thrash fan, I’ve quite enjoyed their last two albums (and am currently enjoying Doomsday Machine.)

Then there are some truly strange choices on the album – Warmen’s faithful cover of Heart’s “Alone,” featuring Kimberly Goss, for example. Couldn’t they at least crunch it up a bit? My Ruin’s cover of the Plasmatics’ “Sex Junkie” is another one that falls into this category, not because of the song choice, but because of the decision to try to duplicate the Plasmatics’ shitty sound instead of making it sound like a song that was actually recorded within the last 25 years or so. If they’d done that, this might be a highlight of the album.

So I was already familiar with a lot of the bands – those already mentioned along with Nightwish, The Gathering (who get two slots on the album) and Madder Mortem. What I was really looking for was some solid female-fronted metal that didn’t sound like the band had just pulled their singer off the stage of a Puccini opera. The album started fairly strong, if a bit nu-metalish, with Flowing Tears’ “Razorbliss.” Then we visit Lacuna Coil, Lullacry’s Joan Jett/Lita Ford-influenced “Alright Tonight,” Arch Enemy and the Gathering’s “Shot to Pieces.” All of those are known quantities for me, and all solid offerings in their respective styles (though certainly not the best songs from each band.)

So my first shot at a band that I was unfamiliar with was Scheitan’s “My Isle.” It struck me as a boring version of Lacuna Coil. I don’t like the original Stevie Nicks, so they don’t really have much hope. On to LoweMotor Corporation’s “The Flyin’ G,” a pretty straight-up hard rock song with laughable lyrics and some of the worst female vocals I’ve heard this side of a pop idol. Remember the “me love you long time” girl? Imagine her singing about being a stripper. Next, please.

With Holy Moses’ “Disorder of the Order,” I finally get somewhere in my search. It’s an old school thrasher with what sounds like a higher-pitched version of Angela Gossow on vocals. The mix is a bit thin, but otherwise, I could listen to this. Power metallers Shadow keep the good vibes going with “The Reunion in Soul Asylum.” Other than the bands I already knew, this is the first song on the album that makes me want to seek out some of their other work. Power metal with some nice snarling death vocals, this is more like it. Evenfall’s “Rawish” returns us to the operatic vocals, but it’s balanced out with some death shrieks and a musical approach similar to fellow Italians Lacuna Coil. Another winner.

The last shot at an unfamiliar band was Novembre’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting,” a weak cross between classical and pop, with very few rock elements at all. No thanks.

There’s also a DVD included in the package, featuring videos from some of the bands. Lacuna Coil’s “Heaven’s a Lie” and Arch Enemy’s “We Will Rise” are the big names. There are also a couple of videos from Lullacry (“Don’t Touch the Flame,” “Damn You”) and one each from Nightwish (“The Carpenter”), The Gathering (“Liberty Bell”) and Madder Mortem (“Rust Cleansing”). Again I was most interested in the bands that I was unfamiliar with. LoweMotor Corporation’s “Soul of a Pagan” struck me in the same way that their song on the CD did – as a bad lounge act in a strip club. Ram-Zet’s “Queen” was a listenable brand of metalcore, but nothing I’d seek out.

If you’re not familiar with many female-fronted bands, this CD/DVD will give you a nice overview of what’s out there. If you are familiar, it would seem to confirm that, in this case at least, the more well-known bands are also the better bands. I’ll be checking out some more from Shadow and Evenfall, but beyond that, I’ll stick with the ones I know.

There were a couple of pairings that immediately intrigued me, the first being Tim “Ripper” Owens and Yngwie Malmsteen on “Mr. Crowley,” and as expected, it’s one of the strongest outings on the record. The other was a strange mix of Lemmy Kilmister, Ritchie Kotzen and Jeff Pilson on “Desire,” a song originally penned by Lemmy and a song later recorded by Motorhead. It seems strange that Lemmy would do a song for a tribute that Motorhead’s done, but it’s a solid version.

The one that really left me scratching my head here was Lita Ford doing “Close My Eyes Forever.” For one thing, it was her song to begin with. Ozzy just guested on it. It seems a little self-important to record a live version of your own song for a tribute to someone else (and the “close my thighs forever” joke at the beginning doesn’t help.) It’s easily the weakest track here.

Aside from “Mr. Crowley,” the other top performances are George Lynch and Icarus Witch on “S.A.T.O.” and Dee Snider’s slightly demented delivery on “Crazy Train,” with Doug Aldrich and Jason Bonham backing him. Then there are a lot of middle of the road numbers like Forever Say Die’s “Bark at the Moon,” Mark Slaughter and former Ozzy guitarist Brad Gillis’ version of “Over the Mountain,” Jack Blades and Reb Beach’s “I Don’t Know” and Joe Lynn Turner and Steve Lukather’s “Hellraiser.” None are bad, but none are really great either.

There are a couple of good bands here that get sidetracked by strange song choices. Children of Bodom take on “Shot in the Dark,” and like most of the cover songs they do, they play it just like the original. Musically it’s not bad, but Alexi Laiho’s vocals just don’t work at all with the song. A faster song might have worked better for them. Likewise, November’s Doom takes on “Revelation (Mother Earth),” and while you hear jokes about Cookie Monster vocals, Paul Kuhr actually does sound exactly like Cookie Monster here. I know. I watch “Sesame Street” with my kid just about every day.

In the end, Flying High Again is a decent tribute album (though it is a bit odd that no one recorded the title track.) There are no really surprising song choices here, and everyone pretty much plays it straight. If you like some of these artists and want to hear them doing Ozzy karaoke, you’ll probably enjoy it.

So, how have these Greek beauties evolved since then? The music is mostly slow to mid paced semi-melodic with occasionally fast drumming and a nice heavy rhythm guitar sound, clear lead guitar and keyboards that try to stay out of the way, adding depth but never dominating. The bass is present in the sound but should be louder. Tristessa’s suitably harsh vocal delivery has good range. As a side note, Tristessa is also Lady Lilith of Vorphalack. There are many acoustic guitar parts, which is not a problem but they are rather simple and sloppy, which weakens the effect, especially on the title track. The keyboard interludes are more effective than the acoustic ones.

The songs are relatively simple affairs with a good flow and are well crafted for memorability, making it easy to know what song you are listening to with just a brief passage. The intensity is down from past efforts, leaving brief bursts of aggression to do the job instead of sustained blasting, which actually helps because it plays to their strength. While I would not recommend them based on the mellow passages alone, it is the profuse slow and melodic sections that really give the songs their identity. I also give them high marks for not toning down the vocals. Check out the beginning of “The Ring of Sorrow” to hear some of Tristessa’s most venomous vocals ever. Their early efforts were their least original but having gone through the bullet belt and spikes fully corpsepainted necro years earns them credit in my book so while they have ventured far into more mainstream black metal, even featuring Shagrath on one song, they have my respect, having earned it long ago.

 If you already call yourself an Astarte fan this album is not a surprise change and is not a disappointment. There are excellent guest vocals by Sakis of Rotting Christ on “Oceanus Procellarum” and guest vocals by Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir on “The Ring” that Tristessa blows away. If you do not know this band check them out if you are willing to spend some money on a disk that will probably not see sustained time in your cd player but may surprise you.