Simply put, Voice are missing passion.

Within the last fourteen years, I have turned sixteen, eighteen, and twenty-one, I have completed a bachelor's and a master's degree and I have welcomed new members to the family and said goodbye to old. In short, a lot can happen in fourteen years... fourteen years is nearly a decade and a half. As for the music industry, bands have gotten together, released some records, toured the world, broken up and had big-money reunions all within the span of fourteen years.

For Power Metal purveyors Voice, fourteen years has done nothing but allow them to reflect on 2003's blueprint-writing 'Soulhunter', dousing the formula in NWOBHM petrol and giving them the opportunity to produce a polished version of their greatest hits disguised as new songs.

'The Storm', on first approach, seems as if it is waiting for the calm to disappear and for its namesake to arrive in full force. Unfortunately, this album, for all its attempts at opening the heavens with those all-too-traditional Power Metal pipes, never quite forces its way into the atmosphere. Whereas 'Soulhunter' was a refreshing sound in 2003, '...Storm' falls short of the mark in a year where Power Metal has provided us with a plethora of gold with some of its finest staples firing away in fine form.

'Your Number Is Up', 'Kingdom Of Heaven' and 'When Night Falls' are last-minute late-bloomers that blow away the mismatch start with Power Metal that actually packs a punch, loaded with Bruce Dickinson-copped vocal attacks and Uriah Heep-inspired tales. Iron Maiden, quite clearly, have always been an influence on this band and across fourteen years – which has given us four Maiden long-players – this hasn't changed; the Progressive trappings aren't here but everything else is.

'The Storm' presents me with a problem throughout. It isn't a terrible record, hell, after several late-night listens, I've grown rather fond of it. The problem is, unfortunately, is that it is just entirely lacklustre. The solos are what solos should be; sizzling, sliding, and superior to anything else within the song, and yet, there's something missing. The music surrounding it is too how it should be, yet again, missing something. Dickinson-aping or not, you simply cannot fault the stellar and highly improved vocal performance from Oliver Glas, and yet again, there's nothing that pushes it above the notion of expectedness. Simply put, Voice are missing passion.

Jack Press