First step in discography for our Italian neighbors, Ancestral, and its title, "The Ancient Curse". By simply looking at the album's sleeve and taking consideration of their nationality it isn't too hard to guess their music orientation which is no other than epic/ power metal. It's not secret that Italy holds one of the strongest epic/ power metal scenes. Maybe the current genre has fallen in popularity in other countries recently but Italy keeps "fuelling" it with new bands every once and a while. In "Ancient Curse" the band is trying to combine the best elements of the genre's giants and create an exciting blend. Their music style is very close to that one of Blind Guardian or Helloween of "Walls of Jericho" era. The album has its ups and downs. It's obvious that the band possess a talent in songwriting and a very good sense of melody. Just listen to the epic hymn "Achille's Fury". Also, the guitar work is truly excellent and probably the highlight of the whole work. Arousing guitar melodies, riffs and solos by the guitar couple that presents a very mature face. Most of the tracks are speedy, double bass driven with "Time Has Gone By" being the only one ballad (and a really good one!). On the other hand there are categories in which "Ancient Curse" fails to escape mediocrity. The luck of originality is a strong characteristic of the majority of the new bands of the genre that appear lately and Ancestral cannot avoid falling in this trap too. Also, the overall production isn't of the highest level and the mixing of instruments in certain songs should have been better since there are times you can hardly earmark each one. Another thing that created me some speculations was the vocals. Marko Olivo's voice, something between Kai Hansen and Peavy, seems to make it through many of the compositions but cannot live up to the groups standards in many occasions. This is something they must work out. All in all, "The Ancient Curse" is a remarkable debut album by a promising band that every fan of the current genre will probably like. If they had managed to resolve some technical issues the rate would have been much higher.