What I’m trying to say is that there are only a few power metal bands I truly enjoy, and one of them is Sweden’s Twilight Force. Heck, 2019s Dawn of the Dragonstar made my year-end list, an impressive feat indeed.

As I have said in prior reviews of these guys, this is utterly over the top, uber cheesy, synth-filled, elf-filled, dragon-filled silliness that makes bands like Rhapsody of Fire/ Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody (Twilight Force vocalist Alessandro Conti used to be in the latter) look downright serious with expected songs about crystals, wizards, arcane magic, and of course dragons, and other high fantasy tropes. And I love it.

The formula is the same as every Twilight Force album, and as with the last two in particular things seem even bigger, even more choral (with Swedish Opera star Kristen Starkey heavily featured here), even more, orchestral, etc, etc, as the Twilight Warriors weave their tales of the Twilight Kingdoms from across the centuries.

Like Dawn of the Dragonstar, which started with “Dawn of the Dragonstar”, “Thundersword”, and “Long Live the King” ( arguably my favorite song by these guys) At the Heart of Wintervale comes out of the gate strong with “Twilight Force”, “At the Heart of Wintervale”, and “Dragonborn”, three super catchy, epic, energetic, galloping numbers that show what the band does best, especially some of the increased choral arrangements, and when they do songs like this, it will bring a smile to your face. Though I was a little disappointed the super commercial “Dragonborn” wasn’t the band’s take on the Skyrim song.

Two other solid tracks “Skyknights of Aldaria” and “Sunlight Knight” are equally cheesy and somehow even more, epically bombastic, with “Sunlight Knight” being particularly, enjoyably over the top, even with its weird little Jamaican/steel drum refrain.

While Dragonstar had a 12-minute closing song “Blade of Immortal Steel”, this album has two 10+ minute numbers in “Highlands of the Elder Dragon” and the dramatic closer “The Last Crystal Bearer”, and they are both a little more jumbled and seem more vested in cinematic/Broadway styled storytelling ( there are characters and spoken parts, etc), and doing a little too much.  Twilight Force‘s brand of music is just a little easier to digest in 4-6 minute chunks. That said, “Highlands of the Elder Dragon” has a fucking glorious little choral/orchestral burst about 2 minutes in and the same 6 minutes in for “The Last Crystal Bearer”.

Like Dawn of the Dragonstar, there is a bonus, gorgeous digibook version of the album. This one comes with three extra tracks: an acoustic medley covering the band’s past songs which fans will recognize and enjoy, and orchestral versions of ” Skyknights of Aldaria” and “The Last Crystal Bearer”.

When it’s all said and done, I think At the Heart of Wintervale, while entertaining as heck, is not quite as good as Dragonstar. For all its epic bombast, there are no songs like “Thundersword” or “Long Live the King”, that truly stand out and stick with you. But still, these guys are still absolutely one of the very best and most wondrously epic bands in power metal.

And listen, I fully acknowledge how divisive this kind of cheesy metal is, but it’s soooooo  wonderfully, epically, dragon-fucking-ly perfectly done, it just makes me grin. As I stated in my review of the band’s second album, Heroes of Mighty Magic, this is utterly over the top stuff that makes Rhapsody/Rhapsody of Fire look fucking basic, so if that gets you all upset, just steer clear of this.

The Rhapsody of Fire comparison is solid though, just with somehow even more added synths and even more choirs. And with former Luca Turrili’s Rhapsody vocalist Alessandro Conti (though clearly eons older than his new band members, is here in full costume with the rest of the band as ‘Allyon’) replacing Chrileon, the comparison is even more valid. And while everything else in the cheese factor has been upped, Conti actually lessens it , as he is a little more restrained and less …..’sparkly’ than his predecessor.

But by Gandalf’s swinging hairy grey balls, is this epic,  glorious, uplifting, soaring, galloping, bombastic stuff. Having a bad day? Just press play and let the opening title track whisk you away to the Twilight Kingdoms as the Twilight Force‘s mightiest members Lynd (lead guitars) and Blackwald (synths) battle Dragon kings and other such Dungeons and Dragons, High Elven fuckery. Then stay as “Thundersword” further drags you into the realms of High Fantasy, with a glorious main synth line that could be a John Williams theme ( and a completely out of nowhere fiddle/banjo break). Then frankly, if my personnel favorite and arguably my favorite power metal song of the year, the stupidly bouncy “Long Live the King” does not get you happy, then just kill yourself.

Admittedly after the bombastic “The Light of a Thousand Suns” the album then takes a bit of a turn towards more shimmery, softer, hues with shimmery “Words of Wisdom” and “Queen of Eternity”, though neither enter into full on ballad (surprisingly there is no ballad at all on the album, and it could have used one to break up the almost non stop , double bass bombastics) and both still fun, they are a the equivalent to a movie’s quieter second act. But shredding Dragonforce-ish “Valley of the Vale”, regal, marching “Hydra” and “Night of Winterlight” get things back on track with more high octane silliness

Where Heroes of Mighty Magic had two 10 minute epics (“There and Back Again” , “Heroes of Mighty Magic”), this album has just one long track, the 13 minute closer “Blade of Immortal Steel”, where Twilight Force update their Dungeon Master’s manual with some Far Eastern influence character sets  akin to Whispered or Stormtide, and it works, breaking up the bombastic repetition a little, with some catchy , serpentine noodling and Far Eastern shredding. It ends the album with fitting , story telling closure, though a little long.

These guys have rolled another 20 with their +5 sword of epic cheese in their short history, and it looks like I’m going to have to put my planned power metal band, ‘Dragonsex’ on hold to let these guys take the spotlight in a little longer…

Hailing from the same town as Sabaton, comparisons are abound (they have even shared members live and Sabaton’s singer provide guest vocals on “There and Back Again”) but that’s where the similarity ends. Twilight Force is a far less burly, war themed act preferring the wispier, shimmery realms of high fantasy. Imagine Rhapsody (whose Fabio  Leone also makes an appearance) with a +5 cloak of epic (complete with 10 minute songs). These guys definitely rolled a 20 when it came to cheese factor, and at times make Rhapsody look like Jungle Rot, but holy fuck is it fun.

If you could not tell from the cover or song titles like “Flight of the Sapphire Dragon”, “Battle of Arcane Might” and “Powerwind”, this is full on, symphonic as fuck, LARP level power metal and is downright uplifting as all get out. The keyboards are Bal-Sagoth level pomp, and the accompanying  carl orff/carmina burana choir laden choruses are equally as grandiose. While to production is bigger and better then their debut, the guitars are pretty thin, so don’t look for Sabaton or Orden Ogan  levels of heft. This shimmers and glistens with elven stardust and the vocals of Christian Eriksson/Chrileon are equally as delicate and flowery.

Of course, themes of battles, dragons, magic, heroes, etc fill the album, and a nice little track “Epilogue” explains the album and its characters to you at the end of the CD (at least the band dropped the horribly hokey narrations from their debut). But dissecting each track is a disservice, you have all the requisite power metal elements from faster tracks (“Riders of the Dawn”,  damn catchy “To The Stars”) to ballads (“Rise of a Hero”). The standouts are the album two 10 minute numbers “There and Back Again” and the goddamn ridiculously epic title track, good lord are these two epic, rivaling anything from Rhapsody’s first 5 or six cinematic masterpieces.

In the past, I would have never given a band like Twilight Force a second thought, but as I find myself singing along to the likes of “Riders of the Dawn” or Joakim from Sabaton’s part in the title track with a huge grin, I’m glad I’ve given power metal a chance as discovering old bands like Sabaton, Blind Guardian and Freedom Call as well as up coming stars like Brothers of  Metal, Wind Rose and Twilight Force has been a delightful, guilty pleasure.