The melodic metal group Snakegod was founded in 1998 in Tampere, Finland. Up to 2000 the band has recorded several demos that resulted in their debut album “Invitation”. Snakegod produces a crossbreed of Europe/Whitesnake sound with Maiden-like riffs and guitar solo’s. Also the synthesizer reminds one of later Maiden records like “Somewhere In Time” and “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son”. This mix is speeded up and a double bass was added resulting in the “unique” Snakegod sound. Well produced, musically OK and easy to listen to make this album above average and very promising for the future. Critical notes: the vocals are sometimes out of tune, especially in the slower tracks (for instance on “Time and again”, track 12) and one gets the impression that Jari Tiura (vocals) has to push real hard to reach the Joey Tempest-like screams and high pitches.

This, however is not disturbing, for it is compensated enough by the quality of the music. The album cover is a somewhat amateuristic drawing of a woman being sacrificed to a snake that appears to come out of a sewage tunnel. Apart from these minor flaws this is a surprisingly good album for a debut, with track 4 (“Behind the Storm”) and track 7 (“Evil Woman”) being highlights; both are semi-ballads. Most of the other tracks are mid-tempo solid melodic rock songs with catchy choruses and guitar and synthesizer solo’s. In all: above average and worth listening to.