Now if you try to put ALTARIA into the middle between the three mentioned bands, you are a bit on the wrong track, because it is no Power Metal that we get from this quintet, but a mix of Hard Rock and Melodic Metal that thankfully shows none or only little connections to the original bands of three fifths of this band. Maybe the reason for this lies within the fact that the two founding members are in no other band, who knows…

Anyways, of course you expect a quite outstanding album from this and some reviews also exalted ALTARIA into a position just a few inches shy of god, so the expectations rose even further, but even after several listens "Invitation" does not live up to them, by quite a bit, I am afraid that I have to say. One part, where no criticism is justified definitely is the execution of the guys, which is impeccable and contrary to many others, I also like Jouni Nikula's voice (I love that REQUIEM album), because it is different from what we usually get.

So where does the problem lie? Well, in the songs, which is the sad part. Normally you should think that the participation of such famous names as Jani Liimatainen (SONATA ARCTICA) or Emppu Vuorinen (NIGHTWISH) should guarantee at least an above average release, but unfortunately ALTARIA are stuck in second gear, providing us with good, but altogether pretty upright Melodic Metal that has no originality whatsoever (ok, apart from Jouni's rather own vocals), but we already are used to that, but the ideas also are ok at best, not much there that would justify the ballyhoo around them.

Sure, "Innocent" or "Fire & Ice" are really good tracks, but that is just not enough for a whole album of more than 42 minutes and even less when the band is being advertised with the name dropping of some of their members, which lets expectations rise quite a bit. "Invitation" is not a bad album per se, but still a disappointment to me, because it could have been a lot more… (Online July 18, 2003)