Trick or Treat – Creepy Symphonies

Trick Or Treat
Creepy Symphonies
Scarlet Records
April 01^st, 2022
Playing time: 49:39

Trick or Treat – that means Power Metal from Italy. Founded in 2002, the live album “Italian Helloween Tribute” was released one year later. This clearly defined the musical direction of the band at that time. It was not until 2005 that the first studio album “Evil Needs Candy Too” was released. And Trick or Treat also later attracted attention with peculiar release practices. From March 2019 to February 2020, they released monthly singles based on the characters of an anime/manga series. One song for each zodiac sign of each month. Later, these songs were released on the album “The Legend of the XII Saints.” “Creepy Symphonies” is now the band’s seventh studio album by my count.

The band named the bombastic intro after themselves. Birdsong, organ sounds, strings, choruses. So, nothing that you have not heard so or so similar already several times. Instead, the title track “Creepy Symphony” immediately goes into high-speed mode. A reminiscence of earlier Helloween or Gamma Ray. “Have A Nice Judgment Day” sounds darker but at the same time highly melodic. A switch over to Melodic Power Metal. Here bassist Leone Villani Conti shows his skills, with bass lines accompanying the vocals. In addition, a chorus to sing along. For this “Crazy” gallops again fast through the speakers. Again, you can quickly sing along with the chorus. “Peter Pan Syndrome (Keep Alive)” starts very keyboard-heavy, a quiet and beautifully ballad-like song. In which also the bass is booming again. And an outstanding guitar solo is then the crowning glory.  With “Escape From Reality” Trick or Treat goes back into Speed Metal territory. With “Falling Over the Rainbow” the tempo is only slightly reduced. And “Queen of Likes” then offers a great guitar intro. Initially settled in Melodic Hard Rock, it changes about the middle in classic Heavy Metal. Shortly before the end, the Italians still whip out the anthemic Power Ballad “April”. But the absolute highlight is probably the twelve-minute epic “The Power Of Grayskull”.  It starts first powerful keyboards, before the guitars spread real widescreen epic. If I see it right, the lyrics are set in the “Master of the Universe” movie and role-playing game. And logically, given the length, the song also has a slight Progressive edge to it. High Speed Metal, anthemic and balladic passages alternate.

„Creepy Symphonies” is the most mature Trick Or Treat work ever.

So, you can read in the info text. I must confess that I’m not so familiar with the Trick or Treat cosmos. However, I remember that I had carelessly put aside the predecessor “The Legend of the XII Saints” two years ago, because it seemed too monotonous to me.  “Creepy Symphonies”, on the other hand, is an excellent album from my point of view. Thus, I can confirm the advertising text actually at all. It should be mentioned that the cover was painted by singer Alessandro Conti (Twilight Force, ex-Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody). So, the man can not only sing excellently.

Trick Or Treat – Creepy Symphony (Official Video): https://youtu.be/UtthzkU0yKI

Lineup:

Alessandro “Alle” Conti – Vocals
Guido Benedetti – Guitar
Luca Venturelli – Guitar
Leone Villani Conti – Bass
Luca Setti – Drums

Track list:

• Trick Or Treat
• Creepy Symphony
• Have A Nice Judgment Day
• Crazy
• Peter Pan Syndrome (Keep Alive)
• Escape From Reality
• Falling Over the Rainbow
• Queen Of Likes
• April
• The Power Of Grayskull