"La Fortaleza de la Soledad" is a short debut album by Mexican gothic power metal band, "Fortaleza". It was released in mid 2008 by Bevan Studio, and I must say it is a good way to start. The production isn't that great and some of the recordings aren't that great either but the final product is what counts. The guitars are a primary instrument, pretty far up in the mix and gives a good amount of power and background, but also have leads. The band plays a blend of gothic and power metal, but power is the primary sound, and the guitars reflect that nicely, especialy in the intro to the opening track. The guitars are fast, heavy, and melodic. The keyboards and orchestration are split between traditional piano and violin (real violin), where the violin takes the lead between the two. Which I think was a bad idea because the recording of the violin were not that great, in the third track "Delirio", the violin has a solo and it comes off a little annoing. Helena the vocalist sings using a hollow mezzo-soprano style. Usually her vocals are beautiful, but back in '08 her voice wasn't as developed as it is now. And when Helena hits higher notes, her voice sounds a little fake, but other than that her voice is great and full of strength. The drums are faster and creative with a galloping beat. The add a little something else to the background. Something was missing from the music. The bass was not there at all, that whole part was missing. But it's still a good album. This album is great, considering it's a debut, but just as an album, it's not that great. But if you like female fronted, gothic metal like "Within Temptation" and "After Forever" this is for you.