The Swedish Viking-heavy-metal
trio Grand Magus is back with another
harsh and heavy power metal album. I've
been a fan of this band ever since 2008
when they released the awesome monster
album 'Iron Will'. The first track from
Iron Will, 'Like the Oar Strikes the
Qater' is still one of the best metal
songs I know of and from that day I've
been a faithful buyer of their albums.
'Hammer of the North' from 2010 and 'The Hunt'
from 2012 are the albums, which have
been great successors and with this
brand new release called 'Triumph and
Power' they demonstrate that they still
can forge Viking metal ornaments
music wise and are unsaturated by the musical work
by Odin's metal anvil.
They have taken their unique brutal
metal and refined it to among the most
noble and heaviest in the Nordic power
metal. JB is one of the better Swedish
vocalists in the heavier metal genres,
anyway. The Scandinavian answer to
Manowar is a quite fair comparison if
you haven't heard Grand Magus before.
Powerful and bombastic thunder metal
within the secure confines of the stormy
ocean is what I hear after my twenty
spins of 'Triumph and Power'. I have to
say that they maybe are heavier than
ever. The opening track 'On Hooves of
Gold' is a majestic metal song, which
forces me to grab my sword and scream:
'As we ride the wind and flies, on
hooves of gold we ride'!
How metal is a track called
'Steel vs Steel'? This is the far best
song on the album and is the reason why
I rise my axe with one hand and marches
with a proud chest back and forth. It's
only the mead horn at my belt and the
horned helmet that's missing.
'Fight' is a darn good metal
song with excellent and heavy guitar
riffing. I became almost scared when JB starts
to sing in the title song, he has so much clout and depth in his voice, which
is sounding like Thor himself was
singing. If you are a fan of the Viking/power metal this is definitely
something you have to listen on. They
have the guts to put in some true Viking
music in 'Arv' and 'Ymer'. Such cool
additions and unique quirks gives plus
points.
My overall impression of
'Triumph and Power' is: An iron harsh
album with an unbelievably impressive
first half. It doesn't reach 'Iron
Will' levels, but it's in the same division
as 'The Hunt'. Keep up the good work and
I wish that I'll see them on a stage this
summer...
Line-up:
Janne "JB" Christoffersson - lead
vocals, guitar
Fox Skinner - bass, backing vocals
Ludwig "Ludde" Witt - drums
