SAIDIAN – …For Those Who Walk The Path Forlorn

Sometimes, a fresh breeze comes out of the area where sheep are not just wool or food, the Schwab part of Germany, down South near Stuttgart. That fresh breeze is annual with the Summer Breeze festival mid to ultimo August, but Melodic rockers Saidian sound fresh as well, with their debut disc, … For Those Who Walk The Path Forlorn. The band consists of what must be a local all star lineup, with members from Blind Dance, Horny Speed, Karkadan, and Citizen Kane… the latter being the only band name that may honestly ring a bell with most Metalheadz.

Founded as Aria by keyboarder Markus Bohr – Aria is a somewhat famous Russian band also – the quintet wisely changed the name to Saidian before unleashing this disc, which is a fine production of Classic, slightly Neoclassic, Hard Rock. Bohr uses his keys in an orchestral way, and is more dominant than, say, the guitar player, especially on opener “Burn Down The Night.” Some like riffs, some like orchestration, and if you go further on into the disc, you’ll get a little of both… still the synth is more dominant than the guitar for most parts. Next up, “Lonely Nights,” is a very 80’s rocker, a catchy melody with a “tight jeans delivery” from singer Markus Engelfried – by the way, is everyone in Schwabingen named Markus?

When saying that Saidian is a fresh breeze, one thing must be made clear: This is by no means a band that brings something you haven’t tasted before on your dish – the path forlorn is in the middle of a pumpkin field, Timo Tolkki has walked it as well, also Fulda’s Edguy and Danish Royal Hunt jumped the fence (like the promo paper so rightly states) – but then again, there’s no need to cook something else if you make good enough schnitzel and spätzle like Saidian does. That’s what makes them fresh… simply the overall melodic qualities and the strong performance this disc offers.

“Silent Killer” might be the best number here; it’s heavy and has tempo changes that make the song stand out of the lot. “Heart Of Stone” is slightly more Progressive, but the band never forgets to include a good melody – and truth be known, the Schwabs know a good melody when they hear one… or create one.

“Cry In The Rain” starts off with a primal scream and has very Russian/Danish keyboard work. Another up-tempo and very synth-based number, while “Chains Of Time” slows down the tempo and is more epic and grandiose… in a positive way.

Only two songs remain, “The Only One” and “Raging Fire,” also great songs indeed, especially for those who always order the pepper steak wherever they go in the world, meaning that you’ll get eight songs plus an intro if you walk the forlorn path. It’s fine to have a release every once in a while that doesn’t have 15 tracks – some good, some not that good – because this is a fine collection of Melodic Metal with no fillers really, and if you like to walk a path already tread by the masses, you may try the forlorn one. This CD will not move the center of the earth to Esslingen, but Saidian will indeed make their name known (anyone have the number to the girl on the cover, by the way???).