Album Review ENFORCER Zenith (04/26)

Enforcer were founded in 2004 in Arvika, Sweden. With the release of their debut album Into The Night in 2008, the band displayed a heavy/speed metal sound modeled after Exciter, Agent Steel and Anvil. The quartet led by Olof Wikstrand (vocals/guitar) line-up has been fairly stable. The good reception of their work led to the third album "Death By Fire" being released by Nuclear Blast in 2013. But my actual first contact with Enforcer was their 2015's album From Beyond which made a very good impression and earned a good spot in that year-end list.

In 2019, we are presented with their fifth album Zenith. From the get-go my impression of Zenith was positive but I was also surprised. I was expecting a thrashy / speedy sound but the fast-paced heavy metal hymns were mostly missing. The band opted for a mid-tempo polished approach. To be fair songs like "Thunder and Hell" bring up their aggressive speed metal sound. This song is particularly strong and could be out of Manowar's Battle Hymns. But mostly Zenith sounds like early Motley Crue. Despite some remaining traces of speed metal, the album is a total homage to the 80's glam metal with some hints of 90's power metal. Tracks such as the opener and single "Die for the Devil" or "Searching for You" are clear examples. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just very different from previous records and unexpected. But some other tracks go too far. The romantic piano intro of "Regrets" got me worried we would go for a full ballad but the 6-min track turns into a stadium rock anthem. While I frowned upon it at first, I was caught by its cheesiness. Also "Sail On" is very weird and displays a rather irritating chorus. Looking at the bright side, there are other good moments. The orchestral elements on "One Thousand Years Of Darkness" is a good experiment for the band and add a different flavor to the song. Surprisingly enough, the intro riff and solo section remind me of Children of Bodom. The more epic approach is evident on the last tracks "Forever We Worship the Dark" and the the 7 minute, dark and crushing "Ode To Death" and they work well.

Zenith format with 10 tracks in 47 minutes is one that works very well for me. It's easy to get through the album while having a good time. The album is well produced with a dynamic, clean and clear mix. The vocal style of Olaf is very suitable to the music and he performs it very well. He can hit those high notes but does not overuse them. We know that because in the track "The End of a Universe" he does not hold back and sound like Jon Oliva during the Gutter Ballet era. Guitars are solid, the drumming competent and the bass sound clear in the mix. Overall Zenith is the album that the teenager me would have loved. But of course the much older me while enjoying it also sees problems. The songs are very well written and the execution impressive, but there's lack of originality, speed and aggressiveness. I must say that throughout the album the over use of singing Oh-oh-oh really annoyed me, and some songs lost points for that.

It seems that after working on Zenith for more than a year, Enforcer is aiming to expand its audience "by conquering the stages all around the globe" with their catchy, 80's glam influenced stadium sound. It was not what I expected from them after the good From Beyond but it's still a fun ride.

SCORE: 80/100
DR: 10
Genre: Heavy/Glam Metal
Released by Nuclear Blast on April 26th, 2019

Album Review GRAND MAGUS Wolf God (04/19)

Grand Magus was founded in Stockholm, Sweden  by JB Christofferson (vocals/guitars) and Mats “Fox” Skinner (bass) in 1996. Since 2012  the trio is completed by drummer Ludwig "Ludde" Witt. In November of 2001 the self-titled debut album was released and since then seven more studio albums. Drawing influence from bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Manowar, Grand Magus' sound consists of an amalgamation of heavy metal and doom. I have been a fan for a few years now, I have been quite satisfied with the last two albums Sword Songs and Triumph And Power.

Wolf God is the ninth album and fourth with Nuclear Blast. There's this phenomena in metal in which we can simplistically split the fan base into two major groups: The ones that complain that a band is not "evolving"/changing their sound and the ones that complain that a band sounds the same in every album. If you are in the latter, then you will have a problem with Wolf God. All the elements that make Grand Magus a very good band within their style are present, but those are the same elements we came to know from recent albums. There's nothing new out of this album. The groove, memorable hymns and heaviness that were featured on the predecessors are all here. The thick guitar riffs based on power chords dominate the mix. I wish more elaborated riffs like in "Spear Thrower" and "To Live and Die in Solitude" would appear more often though. The guitar solos are short but a couple of them are quite memorable such as in "Brother of the Storm", "Spear Thrower" and "Untamed". While they are influence by Priest and Manowar, the vocal delivery has nothing to do with Halford or Adams. Instead, it's a lower and much more limited vocal range, but it fits very well their sound and doomy riffs.

Despite the album being relatively short (39 minutes) with 9 songs and the intro, there's still a feeling of featuring some fillers that plagiarize themselves. I'm sure I have already heard "Dawn of Fire"  before. Also, the intro for example it's almost 2:30 minutes and it doesn't add much. Even the title track and single features a very boring chorus. Actually, in many songs the chorus is just repeating the track title. I'm probably sounding more negative than the reality. Please don't get me wrong, it's still a good album, specially for the diehard fans who want "more of the same", but I had high expectations and I was hoping for something more inspired. Still, there are some tracks that I really liked such as the Motorhead homage "He Sent Them All to Hel", the groovy single "Brother of the Storm" and the closer "Untamed" which features the best drumming on the album.

This is a good album for the ones who loved their previous releases as it sounds just the same. It's also fun and fist pumping heavy metal collection. It's an amazing soundtrack for a sunny festival with beers in our hands or for your gym headphones . But musically Wolf God  offers limited value to their overall discography.

SCORE: 77/100
DR: 7
Genre: Heavy/Doom Metal
Released by Nuclear Blast on April 19th, 2019

Discography Review: Yngwie J. Malmsteen (1984-2010)

Giving how disappointing the last few albums from Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (YJM), I decided to look back to his solo discography of studio albums with vocalists to remind myself how good some of those are. It's a pity that it's all in the past now.

Marching Out / Rising Force (1984-1985)
Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, YJM is without a doubt a very accomplished musician technically (rated among the the greatest electric guitar players of all time) and commercially (estimated net worth of $7.5 million). Still it's probably not nice to realize after more than 20 years into your career that your first two albums were never surpassed. Those albums are regarded as a seminal releases in the power metal and neoclassical metal genres. Not to mention the importance for guitarist.  “Far Beyond the Sun” was far beyond (pun intended) what any guitar player had ever imagined possible and still today it's one of the best guitar/instrumental tracks in metal. The partnership with Jeff Scott Soto (lead vocals) and Jens Johansson (keyboard) was also superb. Soto performance is at his peak, powerful voice, hitting high notes and emotionally into it.

Trilogy (1986)
Mark Boals took the vocal duties for YJM's third album. We now know the revolving door that YJM's Band is, but after such amazing album, it was probably a shock that Soto left. The good news is that Boals delivers big time in this album. He has a higher pitched voice and while not as powerful, he can reach even higher notes than Soto. We know that "exaggeration" fits well the band's boss style. Despite being slightly cheesier than the first two album, the album is not a huge departure from the predecessor, meaning, it's almost as good. The song writing is great and Johansson brothers (keys/drums) gave consistency to their base sound.

Odyssey (1988)
While Odyssey features one of YJM best songs ever "Rising Force" overall the album is not as powerful as the predecessors. Probably due to the more radio friendly approach (riding the mid-80's glam metal wave, just listen to "Heaven Tonight") and the performance of singer Joe Lynn Turner.
The new and now very well known singer helped the album to become to this day YJM's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200. Many tracks sound a lot like Turner's Rainbow albums.

Eclipse / Fire And Ice (1990-1992) 
As we get into the fifth and sixth albums and fourth singer with Göran Edman, YJM maintained the radio friendly glam metal approach. Another important  line-up change, Mats Olausson took over the keyboard duties. Eclipse is particularly weak with the only song really worth it being "Bedroom Eyes". F&I displays a bit more power and shredding.

The Seventh Sign / Magnum Opus (1994-1995)
Those are special albums to me since Magnum Opus was my first YJM album which I picked up when it was released. Mats Olausson survived the revolving door and stayed as keyboard player, Michael Vescera took over vocal duties and Mike Terrana the drums (but only for The Seventh Sign). With those albums YJM finally left behind the glam metal influence and dove into the 90's power metal phase. Those albums are very concise clocking both under 50 minutes and featuring no more than 12 tracks. The Seventh Sign is particular strong and actually one of my favorites. Magnum Opus starts strong but loses momentum int he mid section. I like Vescera's performance, the song writing and for the first time we hear a heavy influence from Blues and Jimi Hendrix. I do not tend to like ballads, but "Forever One" is probably my YJM favorite one.

Facing the Animal (1997)

Going into this review, I had those memories that Facing the Animal was a great album, unfortunately revisiting it now did not confirm that. I also know why that's the case, the album suffers of frontloadness©. That means that 5 of the first 6 songs are really good, but after that there's a bunch of OK songs and fillers. It's a shame that Mats Levén only sang on this studio album, he really delivered a strong performance. With the great Cozy Powell on drums, Facing the Animal has this rougher production and more hard rock than the polished production of the previous albums.

Alchemy / War To End All Wars (1999-2000)
In 1999 YJM resuscitated the brand  Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force by releasing Alchemy under this band name. He did kept long time collaborator Mats Olausson on the keyboards, brought back Mark Boals which became the only singer to sing in more than two studio albums, and the incredible John Macaluso on drums. All of those were phenomenal decisions. Alchemy did brought back the sound of the first three albums with an added element of modern production. Alchemy is my favorite album since the first two. It's the heaviest album of YJM career (not a single balled on it!), the tone of the guitars are so heavy and dirty distorted, Boals performance is top notch (if you like soaring high pitched vocals), the drumming is relentless and it features the best instrumental tracks since the mid-80's, including a very nice bluesy track called (not subtle) "Blue". War To End All Wars maintains the same style tracks like "Prophet Of Doom" and "Crucify" are fantastic but does not hold the same quality throughout the record. Both albums are quite long hitting 70 min each, it's not necessarily a problem but it can get too much, well in YJM view "more is more", so no problem.

Attack / Unleash The Fury (2002-2005)

2002's Attack brought a full line-up change with Doogie White who sang on Rainbow's last studio album as the new singer. Another interesting addition was Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater) on the keyboards but he didn't stay for Unleash The Fury and was replaced by Joakim Svalberg (Opeth). Patrick Johansson took over the drums for both records. As much as I tried to really get into those albums, it never hit me like the previous ones. There are certainly great songs in both of them (e.g. "Touch the Sky" or "Locked & Loaded") but both albums are very long, full of fillers and many songs go back to that softer early 90's sound. Derek Sherinian's keys are way in the background (the good "Baroque and Roll" being an exception).

Perpetual Flame / Relentless (2008-2010)

the first with ex-Judas Priest and Iced Earth singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. The album also features famed keyboardist Derek Sherinian back on keyboards but soon replaced by Nick Marino "Marinovic" for Relentless. Perpetual Flame is a return to form, it picks up from where War To End All Wars left. There's more melody, power and metal while still delivering on what we expect from YJM. Not only the song writing is better than the last two albums, but Tim Owens brought back a powerful and emotional vocal performance. Some tracks like "Red Devil" showcase this perfectly. Note that for Relentless the Rising Force band name which was being used since Alchemy is dropped and Owens only sings on 6 of the 14 tracks. YJM sings one song and the others are instrumentals. All in all, not very interesting album and it was a indication of where YJM would go next.

As of today, that's all for me. The albums since Relentless are not even worth discussing and I don't think (but hope I'm wrong), we will ever see the good old days of this phenomenal guitar player who once produced such classic albums.

Album Review NUMENOREAN Adore (04/12)

The Canadian post black metallers quintet is back with their sophomore effort Adore. I don't really like the label “post metal” however sometimes it’s difficult to give an idea of how a band like Numenorean sound like. Labeling them as simply black metal would give you the wrong expectation. For the most part there are almost no blast beats in Adore, but rather a more atmospheric sound with moments of aggressiveness. They remind me of Defheaven or Ghost Bath due to their mix of beauty, harshness and melancholy. The difference being that Numenorean  is groovier than those peers. That's a good differentiation as I really enjoy the occasional Black n' Roll moments, e.g. “Horizons”.

Overall Numenorean displays quite a lot of diversity in this record. You can feel that the band did not limit themselves to any boundaries. For example, while the vocals are mostly pure black metal, there are some shorter tracks like "Stay" and "Alone" that offer a Gothic influence with clean vocals at slow tempo. In addition, there are many instrumental passages being “clean” and slow tempo in between the harsh fast tempo parts. But the versatility doesn’t stop there, a Gojira-like sound is all over the 7-min title track. In all honesty, I'd create a new label for them, what about post blackened death metal? The band does sound like Behemoth at times, e.g. "Portrait of Pieces".

The album is very well crafted to display all this diversity, I really enjoy the flow of it, it makes it easier to listen to it from start to finish. Five of the ten tracks are full blown heavy longer tracks with ups and downs within them (but never over 9 minutes). Moreover those songs are intertwined with shorter instrumental or slow tempo Gothic songs. All and all, one songs builds on the next with seamlessly transitions. The production is very clean and dynamic, one minor complain is that the drums are sometimes too prominent in the mix.

Although I enjoyed listening to the album quite a few times, I am not sure it is one that I will return to very often. For big fans of the genre and this style of metal, Adore is certainly one disc to give a shot.

SCORE: 80/100
DR: 6
Genre: Post Blackened Death Metal
Released by Season of Mist on April 12th, 2019

Album Review PERIPHERY Periphery IV: Hail Stan (04/05)

I’ve been a fan and a big admirer of Periphery’s music since the release of Periphery II and their tour with Dream Theater. I like all their albums since then. Now year 2019, they are back with Periphery IV: Hail Stan which contains “only” 9 tracks but it still goes just over one hour.
When it comes to their music, I can only label Periphery as Progressive Metal because they do not fit a musical genre or limitation. Musically PIV is not a departure from their sound, Misha Mansoor and band follow the same direction we are now used to: Progressive Metal with Djent guitars, alternated aggressive metalcore and clean vocals, catchy melodies and moments of radio friendliness. But there are some subtle differences: The album is very dark and heavy, even the softer songs have a a dark atmosphere around them (is STAN a word play with SATAN?). The second difference is the more prominent use of electronic music and symphonic arrangements. As always, the guitarwork from the three axemen is impressive and so is the drumming. The versatility and range of singer Spencer Sotelo don’t cease to impress me e.g. “Follow Your Ghost” and “Satellites”. The bass is competent but not a highlight. Nolly laid down the bass even though he is not credited as a band member anymore.

Periphery makes music as they see fit and love and that's very clear throughout the album from their own label. One of the biggest statements of this approach is the album opener, a 16-plus-minute musical journey. It features symphonic arrangements, aggressiveness, melodic moments, and electronic samples. The one-minute meditation sound that closes this monstrous track is welcomed so that we can catch our breath. The transition is even more important because the next three songs are pure modern metal aggressiveness. The first single “Blood Eagle” featuring a fantastic guitar solo, “CHVRCH BVRNER” which is basically a hardcore (almost Dillinger Escape Plan like) song with a catchy chorus, and “Garden in the Bones”, a mid-tempo catchy song with a big chorus. There’s a softer approach with tracks such as “It’s Only Smiles” and the electronic “Crush” which breaks the album flow but without compromising the overall experience. Specially given the album last two songs: The catchy and heavy “Sentient Glow” and another long epic “Satellites” with its ups and downs.

Overall a great prog metal album from Periphery which I am sure longtime fans will dig it. There will be an occasional nose twist to a couple of tracks in the mid section, but not a big problem given the power of most of the tracks. Despite the "no compromise" approach and the elements described, I still wish the band could've shown more evolution from the previous records by taking more risks. PIV is basically more of the same. The good news is that the same continues to be very good. But this is just me being picky, I’m still rating this album high and will certainly keep spinning it for weeks to come. Let’s celebrate PIV as another achievement from this great modern metal institution.

SCORE: 83/100
Genre: Progressive Metal
Released by 3DOT Recordings on April 5th, 2019