Yet another "true" Swedish band, albeit of very high quality, inspired
by the 80s Black Sabbath. The lineup features Joachim Nordlund
(guitar), Martin Haglund (guitar), Johan Lindstedt (drums), Mika
Itaranta (bass), Joakim Roberg (organ), and none other than Nils
Patrick Johansson (vocals), also a full-time member of Wuthering Heights, Space Odyssey, and Lions Share
(thus clearly trying to give Jorn Lande a run for his money). The band now has three albums to its credit: "Of The Son And The Father" (2003), "Evil Is Forever" (2005), and the brand new "Astralism" (2006).
OF THE SON AND THE FATHER (2003)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Slay The Dragon," "Ocean Of Sand," "In Prison For Life"
I'll try writing this review as if I haven't
heard Evil Is Forever first. This album is not immediate, but
it is a grower. At first many songs seem similar, but with time they
split into the excellent and the good. The obvious comparison points
are mid-period Black Sabbath and Dio, although
moments of Rainbow and
Deep Purple can be heard ("Slay The
Dragon" reminds me of "Strange Kind Of Woman"). But mostly it is as
if the world ended with the Tyr album. Nils Patrick Johansson
uses his voice for one reason only: to sound as much as Dio and
Martin as he can; the same reason the rest of this six-man-unit play
their instruments. Hell, even the album cover and artwork features
crucified priests; can you say Holy Diver? What separates
this band from scores of other copycats is very solid songwriting:
their songs both sound good and mean something too. "Cloudbreaker"
(a song about terrorism), title track (Catholic abuse), "Hungry
People" (obvious), "Ocean Of Sand" (Saddam, the best song on the
album), "Prison For Life" (obvious), "Night Of The Witch" (burning
the witches) all have strong lyrical content piled up on top of the
rocking riffs and 80s style keys. Plus the usual metal bravado in
"Burn Down The Wheel" and "Man On The Rock." I'm a little puzzled
over the song "Rainbow In Your Mind": is it about losing a girl to a
lesbian cause? So, the bottomline is: if you want to hear a very
good 80s Sabbath imitator with equally good lyrics, seek no
further.
EVIL IS FOREVER (2005)
BEST SONGS: "Time To Rock," "Lionheart," "Praise The Bones"
Longing for Dio- and Martin-era Black Sabbath? Of course, you are!
Missing the haunting riffs, deep and passionate vocals, and those
wonderfully dark melodies? Of course, you are! And remain in anguish
no more! The second album from Astral Doors, "Evil Is Forever," is
exactly that: an album that Black Sabbath did not release since
"Tyr." Those who is familiar with Nils Patrick Johansson in any of
his other projects, would agree that he's got THE voice for this
sort of late era-Sabbath worship (I have heard him first on
Wuthering Heights "Far From The Madding Crowds" and remember
thinking how much he sounded like Martin). But voice and sound are
not enough for a great album ("Forbidden" the proof of that),
however worry not: the songs here are wonderfully crafted, with
taste, subtlety, and tremendous strength that, in a perfect world,
would assure their authors recognition from critics and fans alike.
The choruses are all catchy beyond catchy, powerful and magical in
the best of Dio traditions. It would be a moot job to trace
individual musical moments on this album to Sabbath and Dio albums:
it can be done, but why bother? Be content that every track is
strong, every single one of them. It also has very nice keyboards,
slightly more prominent than on any of the Sabbath works. As a side
note: if I were to choose between Johansson's performance on "Evil
Is Forever" and "Far From The Madding Crowds," I would pick the
Wuthering Heights album, but only because of the versatility: here
he sings with the "Martin" voice all the time, while on "FFTMC" it's
about 40%. I do wish they made the title track chorus sound more
sinister. The lyrics are solid, telling tales of nun abuses ("Bride
Of Christ," also displaying some Maiden influences),
soldier's fortunes ("Fear In Their Eyes"), life in the Soviet Union
("Stalingrad"), and usual Sabbath-y "dragons and kings." They are
definitely not as primitive and painful to read as those by many
contemporary metallers. One complaint here maybe that of lack of
variation, as well as major ground-breaking innovations, but
nevertheless this album somehow sounds fresh and relevant. Could it
be because Iommi and Martin haven't cast their magic on us in over a
decade?
ASTRALISM (2006)
BEST SONGS: "Black Rain," "Tears From A Titan," "In Rock We Trust"
Much like the debut, it took me a few listens
to like it, but one day Nils's scream "Fly away, Enola Gay!" from
the song "Black Rain" gave me chills, and I was sold. Three and a
half albums into their career, Astral Doors show no signs of slowing
down in their relentless pursuit to be like… well, you get the
picture. Still, Nodlund's and Haglund's guitars and Roberg's organ
do the best to imitate Iommi/Campbell/Nichols, and Johansson screams
his lungs out to sound like Dio/Martin. Strangely enough, the band
still somehow manages to avoid being stale, namely because the
songwriting never lets up (as opposed to, say, Machine Men), and the
passion and the energy are abundant. Most of the songs are just so
well written, it's like we are hearing previously unreleased
Sabbath/Dio songs from their glory era, and, let's face it: in our
day, when very few "rockers" are concerned with actual "rocking,"
the mission statement "In Rock We Trust" is as vital as was "We
Rock" in 1982. In fact, with Dio releasing one shitty album after
another and Sabbath only appearing on the Ozzfest to play the same
ten stuck-in-your-teeth songs, this sort of a tribute cannot be more
welcomed. Plus, the boys aren't just concerned with "rocking," they
clearly put effort in their lyrics, and this is another admirable
aspect. Journeys into history ("Black Rain," "Tears From A Titan,"
"Oliver Twist"), political commentaries ("Israel," "London Caves" –
this one is a little ambivalent, because even though the band stated
that they meant it as criticism of Muslim terrorists, but it came
out sounding almost glorifying), Iron Maiden-like tales
("Raiders Of The Ark, "Vendetta," "Green Mile"), critical view of
the world ("EVP," "Apocalypse Revealed"), "raise your fist" anthems
("From Satan With Love," "In Rock We Trust"), and finally, a tale of
a fire in the Astral Doors studio ("Fire In Our House," serving as
the quick-paced rocker, because there is no song about driving on
this one). It is very interesting how long can the band keep up
their "homage" schtick, as well as their high quality songwriting
and tremendous energy, especially with Johansson being in four bands
at once. Will this get tiresome for him and for us? Time will
tell.
NEW REVELATION (2007)
BEST SONGS: title track, “Bastard Son,” “Waiting For The Master”
”Consistency” would be the name of Johansson & Co, had it not given them so little justice. “Consistent Greatness” is a closer one. At the rate of 4.5 albums in 5 years, they are clearly occupying the Olympus of modern traditional metal. Obviously they’re not breaking any new ground here (Black Sabbath and Dio are still the prime reference points) and are only good as their melodies and Nils’ voice, but, god, are they good! At this point they remind of me Tad Morose’s final three albums with Urban Breed: the vocalist turns OK music into superb songs. It opens with an all-out call to arms title anthem. “Pentacostal Bound” continues the proud tradition of “Bride Of Christ” and many other songs that attack on the criminals within the Church. Melodic “Bastard Son” is great (excellent solo from Nordlund), and so is “Waiting For The Master,” with its killer refrain, a well-told story, and an obvious message. The power slightly wanes away towards the end, after the anthemic "Cold War Survivor," which seemingly applies to both Bush and Putin, an awesome tune. "Gates Of Light" could have been a great song, had the bridge "Behind gates of light" been repeated a couple of times. Johansson is clearly on top of his game and so is the whole cast. One of the year's best.
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