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Long before the onslaught of Swedish glam & sleeze that is being released today, there was this  kick ass metal band from Sweden called Masquerade. My first introduction to the band was with their second CD, Surface of Pain, that was released in the United States via Metal Blade Records.  Masquerade has a sound that falls somewhere in between the sound of Dream Theater & Queensryche.  The music is heavy with a touch of progressive metal for good measure.

Surface of Pain has a bunch of cool tunes including “Judas Kiss”, “Suffering”( listen to this song below), “America” and “Mercy Me”.   In my opinion, there really isn’t a bad song in the bunch. Tony Johansson’s voice might not be in the same league as Geoff Tate’s, but his vocals have a huge impact on the songs here.  He has a solid range, and his style seems to be a good mesh with Thomas G:son’s guitar work.

It is a shame that a CD this good was majorly over looked by the masses.  This is a solid effort by

Masquerade.  The band should have had a lot more success with Surface of Pain.

Although Masquerade is not together currently, a couple of the band members have been active in other bands.  Singer Tony Yoanson was singing in the band Nocturnal Alliance, while Henrick Lundberg is playing bass for House of Heavy.

For more information on Masquerade, check out the band’s myspace page here.

You can find the CD Surface of Pain dirt cheap, at this link.  You can download the entire album off of iTunes for less than $6.00.  Check it out, you will be glad you did.

Rating: Out of 10

Track Listing:
1. Judas Kiss
2. Say Your Prayer
3. State of Grace
4. Suffering
5. End of Nothing
6. America
7. God of Man
8. Violation
9. Feels Good
10. Wasteland
11. Mercy Me
12. Free My Mind

Masquerade is:
Thomas  G:son – guitar
Tony Johansson – vocals
Marco Tapani – drums
Henrik Lundberg – bass