Power-metal huh? Yup. And even more than that. Just like a lot of bands in this genre, you shouldn’t look for the real excitement or the upper original level of creativity, simply because the themes have already been chosen a long time ago. Therefore, for some people the second record by Inner Wish will sound as a cliché but I’d say that it’s a little unfair. Sure, the power chords, high male vocals, double bass drumming and a lot of recognizable melodies, especially during the choruses, do not really differ from others but the intensity on Inner Strength is worth checking out.

 

First of all, the album sounds almost like a concept album, the tension and the sphere is changed in a very pleasant way, with the faster songs in the beginning while the middle is accentuated with signs of relief (though remaining powerful) by slowing down a bit. Listen to the killer song ‘Feel The Magic’, see for yourself that also the individual songwriting is original and although as a whole, the songwriting could have been improved, Inner Strength is a perfect record for any fan in the genre who just want to relax for a while with an album that is great to listen to, without the need to listen very hard to it.

 

Singer Alexandropoulos proves that he is a really good singer without the squeezed notes you sometimes get bothered by. The album shows enough variation to be interesting all the time, even the last song (8:42) which sounds a bit like an Arabian track has enough quality in it to be worth checking out more than once. Inner Wish may not be the best band in the scene, therefore the sound isn’t that exciting (yet) and the individual songs may be a bit more powerful with stronger choruses. But on the other hand, there are very few bands that can create this amount of decent songs, with a few absolute highlights every now and than.