Championing multi-ethnicism in their music, Krypteria are a German-backed, Korean-fronted fourpiece who emerge on their third release Bloodangel’s Cry with a set that could be tagged “pop power metal”. Which, in itself, presents a large problem for all involved. It basically means they’re not talented enough to punctuate their music with the twiddly solos and hazy singing that makes real power metal special. Oh, and their songs are about nothing. That’s beyond the fantasy and vikings norm of power metal—the lyrics are plain stupid, and revert to foreign languages, particularly Latin, for no reason other than overblown dramatic effect. This could still work if there was a riveting performance from the likes of several female-fronted bands currently doing the circuit, but frontwoman Ji-In Cho’s voice, alas, is tragically thin and adds nothing to the sugary sheen (I don’t think I could stand enduring “All Systems Go” or the clichéd “Out of Tears” again). When she wails “Me the hunter / You the pray” about half way through, she takes what could have been an effective line and makes it so cold and indifferent as to make Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” look like “Walkin’ on Sunshine”. Besides, most of the songs are just plain boring, employing a chug-chug over flowing piano that Theatre of Tragedy perfected a decade ago. “I deserve to be heard”, Cho mews in “Scream”, though she’s sorely wrong… Krypteria are followers, and third, even fourth-rate ones at that. At least the gothic cover art is kinda humorous.

• Multiple songs MySpace