When I picked up a promo copy of the band's 2004 album "The Inner Circle" I opened it up to see a hilarious picture of the band in frilly elf-looking shirts that I showed to my friends and told him 'These guys look like they are about to declare .. Tonight We ride to Isengard". Inside they sounded like a power metal band who took notes from Deep Purple. Now twenty years later and two new members later the Swedes have stepped up their game and changed with the times. They do not sound as firmly rooted in 80s metal on the opening. Sure the hints are there when it gets to the anthemic chorus. The second song is perhaps too anthemic for my tastes. Some of their grittier moments like those heard on "To Become Someone Else", remind me of Symphony X. This is still an improvement over the early elf years.
"Say' is another one that is anthemic though in more of a Kamelot fashion. These guys are now shoulder-to-shoulder with their peers. The chorus is catchy enough and the keyboards are not overbearing. It feels more like modern rock music to me than metal. The vocals are not rooted in big hair yodeling which is a plus so shedding some of the metal tropes is not a bad thing. The dramatic power ballad formula is another one that I wish they left behind but with "Ghost of My Hero' here we are. The vocal performance is soulful enough and works. It feels like you can hear who these guys truly are as a band on the song "We Are the North". Not that this is the best song, but it is the clearest indication of what the sum of their parts actually is. The only element that does not feel as prominent is the synths that fall behind the other instruments to paint the background ambiance.
They rock out harder on "One Heart". The big chorus falls along the lines of traditional metal. If I heard this and you told me it was Saxon, I might believe it. I am not sure what they are going for with "The Night Within" It might make more sense for radio pandering if this was the late 80s. "Cold Dreams' is well written and the vocal melody is highly effective, though not sure where this falls in the bigger picture of the album. It does get pretty heavy for what these guys are doing. "Our Way Through Silence" is driven by a more hopeful mood than what I normally like, it almost reminds me of Christian rock. I will give this album a 9, though it is not something I am likely to get much replay value from, however, I am not going to deny how well-crafted this album is and it is one of the better albums I have heard doing this sort of thing in some time. It drops June 7th on Napalm Records.
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