With nearly two and a half decades under their studded leather belts, technical excellence is practically a given; and although _Appointment With Death_ suffers from a production that comes across as slightly flat on occasion, there's no faulting any of the performances here. Likewise, regardless of how uninspired the style may leave you, only the most serious hearing problems could cause you to kick against the impossibly catchy choruses of tracks like the rousing opener, "Abnormal", and "Live Forever". Eschewing much of power metal's most tiresome traits, the modern touches on "Tomorrow Never Comes", "Perfect World" and "(We Are) The Only Ones" likewise help each track hit the bullseye with pinpoint accuracy.

There are a few botched opportunities along the way; most notably the awful Eighties throwback on "The Death of Love". Equally, a full hour of this stuff might not sit quite so comfortably with those for whom power metal remains little more than part of an embarrassing adolescence. But truthfully, you would be doing very well indeed to find a more impressive example of the genre in the near future.