No one will ever believe it, but Enid’s Gradwanderer might be the power metal album of the year. People who are bored by the genre’s redundancies won’t get this comparison, and the majority of those who line up to get the latest Primal Fear or Hammerfall record won’t get it either. Power metal is stringently confined to clear-cut elements, and it – just like any other musical style – must conform to these cookie cutter forms in order to be a success.

But Enid have balls. Huge balls made of iron. It also helps that they’re off their fucking heads. What other explanation could there be for track 8, "The Burning of the Sea," a glorious train wreck of scat with metal drumming and guitars?

But rewind to the beginning of the record. Enid’s unconventionality sounds most immediately like the exotic, medicated Falconer. Songs that are alternately so very metal, and then completely the farthest thing from it. Songs that pour on the sweeping metal melodicism and bombast ("Gradwanderer") but feature just as much subdued subtlety ("Die Seelensteine") that listening to the CD in the car only tells part of the album’s story. And simply because Enid has solved the enigma that has plagued power metal bands for years, namely, being able to write a slow song (they call ‘em ballads in the genre) that doesn’t suck, makes the band a godsend.

Going hand in hand with the uniquely adventurous, genre-defying music are the vocals of Martin Wiese, whose powerful choral arrangements propel the songs as strongly as his delicate musings in both English and German (whose lyrics on this album come across with the most stirring emotion). And, yeah, the scat parts also rule, as ridiculous as they are.

But ridiculous is as ridiculous does. Ridiculous beats boring and run-of-the-mill any day around Maelstrom HQ. And the only thing standing in the way of Enid making a perfect album is the exclusion of synthesized instruments for actual violins and flutes, something that we can only hope for next time. Regardless, Gradwanderer is utterly essential, but sadly only to a woefully limited audience that will be able to appreciate it. Still, if you like Falconer and the overall sound of Prophecy Productions’ catalog, get out your wallet. (9.3/10)