Awful band name. Especially when you consider the band name versus the actual music, this could easily rank as one of the worst ever. It immediately evokes associations with Winx Club, which I assume was not the intent. The logo they used for this album doesn't do them any favors either, since it looks like the generic graphic design you'd see from a hard rock band (their older logo is just an Old English font with wings, which I think looks a lot cooler).
The band combine epic heavy metal with speed metal parts. They call themselves epic speed metal, which is a fair enough way to cover both bases, although since the epic stuff greatly outweighs the speed, and only "Carved in Stone" might really qualify as a pure speed metal song overall, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable calling them speed metal without an extra descriptor. As far as the speed component goes, they never get super furious, so think influences from the slightly less lead-footed German bands.
The epic metal influences vary depending on the song. "Hammer of the Gods" is a re-recording of an older track, and is the most overtly old US metal-sounding. Most of the other tracks remind me a bit of the more epic side of Grave Digger's '90s/'00s material, though Skullwinx aren't as power metal-y.
I wouldn't have minded a much higher concentration of speed metal, but otherwise, all I can really critique are a couple spots in the vocals. They're in a rougher mid-range which works just fine most of the time, but there are a couple places where he drifts outside his range trying to hit high notes. I was expecting the worst, so this was quite a pleasant surprise. Since I found this so enjoyable, I can't help but be harsh on the band name--it seems like a huge impediment in an already overcrowded metal scene. $2 well spent.
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