Dark Moor have been one of my favourite bands ever since the release of their debut “Shadowland” (B.O. Records) in 1999 mainly because of their excellent mixture of traditional and symphonic power metal and the Superb vocals of female vocalist Elisa C. Martin.

But after only 3 albums (“Shadowland”, “The Hall of the Olden Dreams” & “The Gates of Oblivion”) and a couple of EP’s (“The Fall of Melnibone” & “Between Light and Darkness”) Elisa left Dark Moor in 2003. She was replaced by a male singer called Alfred Romero and a new album (“Dark Moor”) was released in 2003, but it didn’t quite reach the standards of the previous albums, but the next album “Beyond the Sea” was huge step in the right direction. 

The new album “Tarot” is even better than “Beyond the Sea” mainly because of Alfred Romero’s outstanding vocal performance and the superb guitar wiz Enrik Garcia.

We get a perfect fusion of Kamelot, Nightwish, Rhapsody of Fire and Sonata Arctica, all ten tracks (the limited edition comes with a bonus track called “The Fool”) are excellent but above them all stands the eleven minutes Masterpiece “The Moon”.

Luigi Stefanini (Rhapsody of Fire, Vision Divine and Labyrinth) has delivered a flawless production but the artwork by Derek Gores (Edguy, Kamelot) could have been a lot better.

Dark Moor is still metal band no.1 in Spain and with this album they will go for the top in Europe as well. 

Well done.