Shining Star - Enter Eternity

If you are familiar with the band Shining Star, you know that the brainchild behind the band is Fabio Rocha.  Fabio is an incredibly talented musician and his band's last album Fatal Mistake was a very solid debut release that showed great promise.  In conversations with Fabio many years ago, he told me the follow up album would come out around October 2002.  Now here we are about 3 1/2 years later and we FINALLY have the new disc in our hands. 

The biggest surprise with this highly anticipated album is that the past vocalist is gone and ex-Balance of Power vocalist, Lance King, is now behind the mic.  And if you've never heard Lance King sing, you know that this is definitely a step up. 

So with Lance King comes the obvious Balance of Power influences.  While Fabio Rocha still writes all the music for Shining Star, Lance King's vocals make this an album that Balance of Power fans will be drooling all over.  The biggest difference is that Balance of Power was more of a progressive/melodic power metal mix and Shining Star is a melodic power metal/hard rock mix.  Shining Star is also a little less polished than BOP.  But with King's huge, layered vocals, you can't help but think of albums like Ten More Tales, Book of Secrets, and even Perfect Balance at times.  There are even some of the riffs used on this disc that sound very BOP slanted. 

I guess upon reading this, you are probably thinking that Shining Star has ditched their past and went head on into a strong BOP direction.  While the band still retains some of their old sound, I must say that this album sounds much more like BOP than the old Shining Star.  The lyrics are even more BOP leaning as they shift away from the bold, Christ-centered lyrics that Shining Star had in the past to a safer and more neutral direction.

So, what do I think in the end?  Personally, I like this album much better than the last Shining Star album.  The musicianship is incredibly solid, heavy, and emotional, and Lance King's vocals really make this album shine.  I think that both Shining Star fans and Lance King-era BOP fans will be ecstatic!   

Rating: 86/100

Review By: Matt Morrow

Label: Nightmare Records

Total Songs: 10

Total Time: 47:17

Tracklisting: 1. Nightmare, 2. Insanity, 3. From Now On, 4. Dangerous Game, 5. Insomnia, 6. Never Too Late, 7. Just a Man, 8. No More, 9. Lady of the Night, 10. Travel Through Time.

Best Songs: Tracks 4, 5, & 7.

Band Lineup: Lance King - Vocals, Fabio Rocha - Guitars/Acoustic Guitars, Juliano Collombo - Drums, Kuky Sanchez - Bass, Dinho Zampier - Keyboards.

Band Website: ?