Nuclear Blast
2014
1. On Hooves Of Gold
2. Steel Versus Steel
3. Fight
4. Triumph And Power
5. Dominator
6. Arv (Interlude)
7. Holmgang
8. The Naked And The Dead
9. Ymer (Instrumental)
10. The Hammer Will Bite
At this stage in their career I'm not entirely sure what to make of Grand Magus. Their first two albums didn't do a lot for me, but they won me over with the direct heavy metal ass kicking of Wolf's Return. Then following that Iron Will didn't do a lot for me and I thought maybe it was a one off. After that Hammer Of The North came out and kicked ass again so I thought maybe the band had figured out they'd made a misstep and brought things back to the Wolf's Return style. Then just to confuse me more the band released The Hunt which seemed to have no energy at all. At this point I'd have to call the band incredibly uneven, but when they get it right they can be so fucking good. What this band is... is frustrating. When they just charge ahead and the vocalist wails out "We believe it's our legacccyyyy" they're good. When they plod along in a way that vaguely recalls their less inspired doom/stoner doom stuff they get boring quickly. I honestly had no idea which Grand Magus would show up for Triumph And Power.
Diving into this one, Triumph and Power gets off on the right foot for me immediately with the opener Hooves Of Gold. This is by no means a barn burner and it is pretty plodding in terms of pace really, but it doesn't Feel that way. What it feels like is a methodical, slow burn heaviness with vocals that chant along and then builds to a wailing chorus. It's not exactly speed that sells the band, but the rhythm has to seem to be marching forward and this one nails it. This is just good straight up heavy metal with some nice epic overtones and passion that sells it. Following that one comes Steel Versus Steel which has a nice hard rocking vibe to it and a little bit more of an upbeat pace. This is no speed demon, but it sounds like good music to accompany a biker gang cruising along. Basically, this is more of a Harley than a crotch rocket, but that is just fine by me. I'm kind of reminded of a track like Judas Priest's Grinder sung by a more mid-ranged stoner/doom vocalist. Basically, I was buying into this album by the time the first two tracks finished and that's a pretty good sign for this band. From here out it was up to the band to keep up the energy level and hooks as the sound certainly had established itself as something I wanted to hear more of.
From here out I won't go into total track by track, but I felt the first couple tracks were worthy of a write up of praise. From here things keep up the energy level and I enjoy the songs well enough, but they don't quite stand on their own as well as the first two monsters. Nothing here is even close to bad, but they just kind of settle into a groove of chugging along. These ones don't get my head banging as hard as the album started it going, but it definitely kept nodding along. A little more variation here could have just helped the songs and the album to the next level. Basically, the material is just a little too obvious and blunt in it's mid paced chuggy nature, but it still makes for a good warrior-esque soundtrack. There is still another strong highlight to be found in The Naked And The Dead however however which just has some nasty sounding, quicker paced guitar. This one rips and is well worth the wait. This is pretty much the end of the album for me though as neither the instrumental Ymer is just kind of there and the very plodding, somewhat subdued The Hammer Will Bite doesn't much for me.
Overall, Grand Magus turn in a pretty good listen here. It's not totally rock solid as the middle is more good than great and the end is a bit anticlimactic, but really I'm not going to complain too much about an album that's mostly good to great material. The last track is really the only one I didn't enjoy as I listened to it and that's not half bad. Maybe this isn't quite Hammer of the North or Wolf's Return, but it's not Monument either. I'll take it really. This album kept my interest and is praise worthy for some extremely good highlights. There are better albums that Grand Magus have released for an intro by a new listener, but this should do fine for fans. Really I'm just glad this is one of the albums where they were more on than off. It's the right sound for them and it's enjoyable.
Highlights: On Hooves Of Gold, Steel Versus Steel, The Naked And The Dead
Rating - 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment