Before I started listening to this album I already heard some material on Raintime’s MySpace website. I was a little scared off by the power metal elements in it but I still decided to take the album. As often is the case with my doubtful choices this turned out to be a good one as Raintime made my stand-offishness vanish within no time.

 

The good thing about this album is that it is perfectly outbalanced when it comes to the certain styles of music used. Power metal mainly created by the – fortunately not too – high vocals and keyboards, death metal screams accompanied by real heavy music and even progressive elements are presented in an accessible way. The latter is especially noticeable for example in the song ‘Another Transition’.

 

And while I’m normally not too fond of cover songs I definitely dig the one of this album, being ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson. It simply kicks ass! Might be because I like the original song as well but the fact is that it is brought in a way that the songs doesn’t seem to be ‘raped’ by Raintime. Something that’s quite important while covering songs.

 

As for the power elements that I normally don’t like that much, they’re quite digestible in the context they’re used in on this album. Due to the good balance I was talking about earlier, the power metal doesn’t seem to be the main influence anymore which makes it a whole lot nicer for me to listen to Flies & Lies.    

 

Raintime might not be the “most exciting new European metal act” their bio speaks of, but it might very well become a well-known one around the globe. It’s not that extremely refreshing but by creating a great balance between certain elements of music, this band has done a great job convincing me of their qualities. The fact that, being an Italian band, they will play on this years edition of Progpower USA, only underwrites my opinion about this album if you’d ask me. Power and melodic death metal fans should definitely check out this album!