Formed by Lars Ratz (formerly of Zed Yago), Metalium was at first mislabeled a side project, due to the fact that the band originally featured members such as Chris Caffery (Savatage) and Mike Terrana (Yngwie Malmsteen and others). In fact, this is a fully actualized metal band, with a style set firmly in the European metal mold, with perhaps a nod to a more American sound akin to Iced Earth, while on the later State Of Triumph the German style (a la Gamma Ray) is a bit more prevalent. Metalium is breaking no new ground with releases like these, but the music is flawlessly executed, and in vocalist Henning Basse the band has a real find -- his voice is perfectly suited to this style of music, clear and able to reach the high notes as required. As this kind of metal is still all the rage in Europe, there's no reason why Metalium shouldn't continue to grow in popularity.