Empire 21 is the talented Swede
CJ Grimmark's brainchild after his
former band 'Narnias' funeral. CJ has
appeared with several influential
Christian metal bands including Narnia,
Saviour Machine, and Rob Rock. He joined
the strong metal band Beautiful Sin
together with the drummer Uli Kusch
(Masterplan, Helloween) in 2006 on their
fantastic album 'The Unexpected'. He has
been a special guest guitarist on fellow
Narnia bandmate Christian Liljegren's
side projects Divinefire and
Audiovision. He has recorded his debut solo
album that was set to be titled Grimmark, where he also handles the
vocals. Grimmark's style of playing,
especially on Narnia's earlier work, is
often compared to the neo-classical
metal style of Yngwie Malmsteen. This
new project is taking us on a journey
between melodic hard rock and white
metal. Heavy guitar riffs and soaring
vocals blended with some neo-classical
metal guitar loops. Ricard Hulteke from
Jönköping is a new vocal name for me and
he is a worship leader in the modern
Christian church. On this album he sings
very strong and contributes strongly to
the high rating. His voice fits
perfectly to this harder and rougher music
genre.
'When You're Falling' kicks the
album off and is one of the heaviest
tracks on the album. As the second song
on the list appears one of the top songs
'I Can't', which is a melodic and half
progressive metal/rock tune with elegant
guitar riffing. 'All Is Lost' sounds
like a track from Nocturnal Rites,
because Ricard sings quite similar to Jonny Lindqvist. A classic power metal
ballad with big vocals and delightful,
strong guitars together with tasteful
keyboards in the backseat. In 'Traveler'
it's sounds more like modern metal and Ricard
sings very convincingly and he also sings
with his mouth wide open. It is a
delight to hear CJ's guitar play along
with Tobias and Andreas stable bass and
drum playing. 'Empire 21' is a top-notch track
on the disc where great melodies are blended with rougher metal sound and
of course glimmering guitars.
The powerful track '100 Nights'
has many hefty tempo changes and fits
under the modern metal genre. I
thought they had made a ballad after
the first seconds of 'Heard It All', but
this is another strong, powerful metal
tune with amazing vocals and impressive
instrumental skills. The only track, which
doesn't grabs my spine is 'This Is My
Story'. Not a bad song really, it just
hasn't the same quality level as the
other songs, except the majestic guitar
solo of course. 'Calling' is a up-tempo
metal song in similar folder as band
like Disturbed. Empire 21 closes the
album with two songs similar to their
countrymen in The Poodles and H.E.A.T.
Very nice debut album from CJ and his
band members.
Fans of melodic hard rock/metal
with clean, strong vocals and guitar
work in world class has a new band to
check out. Thanks for the ride guys!!
Line up:
CJ Grimmark (Rob Rock, ex. Narnia,
Fullforce, Beautiful Sin) - Guitars
Ricard Hulteke - Vocals
Tobias Enbert (Darkwater, Harmony) -
Drums
Andreas Ålöv - Bass
John Svensson (Harmony) - Keyboard
