Epidemia - Na Krayu Vremeni (1999)Moroz Records

"Na Krayu Vremeni" ("On The Edge Of Time") is the actual debut album of Epidemia. The core of line-up remained unchangeable: Yuriy Melisov (guitar, vocal), Pavel Okunev (vocal), Roman Zakharov (guitar) and Andrey Laptev (drums). Nikolay Turunov was replaced by a bassist Ilya Knyazev. There were also many changes on the position of live keyboardist. This role was played by three instrumentalists: Lubov Nazarov, Ekaterina Usanova and Ekaterina Gladkova.

Most albums in power metal genre hit us with extremely fast composition from the first tones. This album starts from atypical track that is nothing, but ballad revealing emotional side of Pavel Okunev's singing. In the rest tracks, his vocal is decidedly belligerent and bit lofty. As this is the first melodic power metal album in the discography of Epidemia, there are some distinguishing musical factors like poweful and rhythmic guitar parts, retarding balladish fragments as well as atmospheric instrumental parts. There is only one track taken from "Volya K Zhizni" EP - "Koltso Vsevlastiya" that perfectly blends into the concept of the entire album. The first English track on the official Epidemia's work called "Dragonheart" resembles such fantasy power metal bands like Freedom Call, Insania and Gamma Ray.

One of the greatest advantages of "Na Krayu Vremeni" are perfectly worked-out guitar solos which prove that the duo Melisov-Zakharov knows what virtuosity is. In comparison to aforementioned EP, arrangements on "Na Krayu Vremeni" are more complex and enriched by keyboards. Most tracks are very dynamic and hit in a sense at the same moment. The production is by far better than the sound on the EP, however not perfect yet. Musically, it is world class melodic power metal in Russian, that's why I recommend all fans of the genre to start their adventure with Epidemia from this work!