Previously coming onto this scribe’s listening radar through a late 2020 album release Where the Stories Began, Theragon have only released a single “Blessed By the Storm” in 2022 while laying low riding out the pandemic. Continuing the story from that debut album, Lumina is a four-song EP that resides in the melodic fantasy power metal style full of ambition, bombast, and that journey necessary to take listeners from normalcy to another realm. Trademark elements well associated with this sub-genre remain a mainstay in the quintet’s platform – the uplifting musical hooks, heroic vocal melodies, and triumphant atmosphere staples that carry over similar to the veteran influences they pull from.
Often the keyboard work of Hector Palanca plays a dominant role in the foundation of these tracks. The combination of his main runs along with supplementary orchestration parts giving the material a cinematic, dramatic twist especially in a versatile, mid-tempo offering such as “The Bird That Cannot Fly”, where guitarist Alejandro Ibanez injects some softer, clean elements two-thirds of the way through that build dynamics for the subsequent powerful riffs. Sabaton-ish accents next to Helloween-ish charm takes “We All Are One” in that unifying anthem template, as vocalist Ferran Quiles reaches for the eagle high falsetto portion of his range especially in the concluding sequence of the song. The final track “In Valentia” contains more of a cultural folk-oriented feel turned metal, the background choir/gang-like voices preparing the listener for battle, drummer Joan Andreu Quiles showcasing some adept kit work while maintaining that mandatory groove to keep listener engagement on high. People should be pleased with the obvious production improvement, the band receiving more of a balanced, full sound that allows all these musicians (and the songs) to shine.
Theragon seem to be making the right strides to develop better songs and focus on proper diversity when it comes to the material on Lumina. If artists like Freedom Call, Avantasia, and the aforementioned Sabaton or Helloween find favor in your record collections, these Spaniards could be another treat to treasure.