Artist: Grand Magus
Album: Triumph and Power
Source: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/grand-magus-exclusive-triumph-and-power-in-full/
Pre-listening Notes: I honestly don't know much about this band. They are from Sweden, they are metal, and I think I vaguely remember reading a conversation on Facebook between two of the guys I trust most about metal. So, when I saw this pop up, I figured why not give this band a whirl. So, here goes.
Initial Reaction: Starts off with some stormy weather sounds (nice!), then some clean guitar and some low, epic singing, before it starts chugging a minute and a half in. The music is heavy, but not too heavy, and the vocals are clean. The vocals aren't quite in the power metal realm, but they are sung and strong. I dig this, so far.
Random Thoughts: This has some quality riffing. The vocals are still coming off almost hard rock based, not too metallish. I am pretty sure lyrically, thought it's got that metal love of fantasy. I heard a line about dragons. Somewhere about the middle of the second song, Steel versus Steel it all really just hit me that I really like this! With each song, I find myself digging the vocals more and more. That was the first thing that I wasn't completely sure on, but it really does fit the music more than I thought. I expected a more anthematic (is that even a word?), but the slightly subdued vocals seem to just match up right. The title track is pretty epic and my favorite track so far. The opening guitars of Dominator are pretty ripping. The album continues on in pretty much the same fashion on the second half.
Final Reaction: When the end of the album got there, I was confused and didn't want it to end. This was really good. I will definitely be going back and checking into this album again, as well as their earlier albums, since Spotify has the other ones. If I, in fact, remembered that Facebook conversation correctly, the two metal opinions I value most have done it again.
Final Grade: 8.0/10
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment