I won't elaborate on the history of the band and James Byrd in specific, 'cause in the very near future a bio and interview will be available on RockNet as well, offering plenty of background info.

I'm not even going to try to categorize this music. You'll simply have to judge for yourself. But the amazing compositions and guitar work will appeal to many. The songs on "Anthem" are a little calmer then Byrd's previous release, but the balance between up-tempo and slower material is excellent.

The piano / keyboard-driven intro "Dealt By Darkness" is the perfect start of an album that will impress many. The bombastic orchestral arrangement will stir up an appetite, like a good intro should. The voice of Michael Flatters cuts through the broad sound, and if Mr. Flatters doesn't, the lead guitars of James Byrd do. The pompous following song "Omen" with the staccato piano, layered guitar licks and powerful choruses sounds like something the mighty Queen might have performed in the earlier part of their career. I wonder if Byrd himself will admit to the similarity. I'll ask him.

Of course the guitars are very prominently here, but thank goodness James Byrd (who wrote all these songs) apparently has a deep understanding of songwriting and arranging. At least he doesn't drown each and every song in mindless scale-racing. More than once the (guitar) harmonies remind me of Brian May, but the songwriting (except for "Omen" maybe) is, as far as I can judge knowing only the previous record, typical Byrd work.

"Messages From Home" is a somewhat denser song, with lots of licks and leads throughout. But pay some close attention to the rhythm guitar parts and assorted riffs going on in the background. "Some Day", the ballad of the album, is lyrically your typical ballad, but the chords, cleverly moving from 'flat' to 'sharp' (I hope I got the terms right on this one) gives the sad lyrics an underlying feeling of hope and optimism.

Lion Music call themselves a 'Progressive Metal Hard Rock Label' and if it's up to "All I Want" this term is certainly justified as far as I'm concerned. Rhythmically this song (the verses in particular) is a *very* entertaining track. And Michael Flatters proves how well he's at home in the higher regions of his vocal capacities.

Some weird-sounding backward guitars are the intro to "Killing Machine", another up-tempo tune, where Flatters sounds somewhat more powerful than on the majority of the material. I'd love to hear this man work live sometime. "Thank You" is lyrically a tribute to love and friendship. All this is poured into a mid-tempo track with a sing-along chorus. The lead guitar sound on this one is excellent!

A more melodic track; "The Price Of War" follows. The vocal line here is not your run-of-the-mill stuff. The sober piano riff adds to the atmosphere very nicely, and the strings and brass arrangements give this song a bit of a 'march' feel, especially when Brian Hutchison does his thing on the (snare).

Finally "Only Love" is the song on this record that, lyrically, impressed me most:

'Children see the light of truth
within the bread they break.
Never knowing what has come
behind the hand they take.'

Conclusion: by all means a worthy successor to "Flying Beyond The 9". And one of the first albums in a while that I have done a track-by-track review on, simply because every track has it's specific qualities. Downsides? Yes, there are some: the somewhat short playing time might disappoint some (like me) and I can imagine that (generally) the lyrical content won't impress a lot of people. Then again, when there's so much going on musically, it would be cruel to draw away too much attention from the amazing musical craftsmanship of Byrd - the band.

There's quite a bit of James's earlier stuff available for your listening pleasure at mp3.com.