By DJ Monk
I first came across Swedish power metal crüe Astral Doors a little less than two years ago, when I reviewed their seventh studio album, ‘Black Eyed Children’. At that time, it was easy to see where the band’s influences clearly lay, as they plotted a well-trodden path through the legacy laid by the late, great Ronnie James Dio. In fact, I seem to remember that, at the time, I remarked that the godfather of power metal’s vocal chords could have been transplanted into the throat of Astral Doors frontman Nils Patrik Johannsson, such was the eerily similarity which permeated the album. However, here we are with the band’s newest opus, and a very different kettle of fish it is indeed.
While continuing to blend the classic and power metal paths that they have crossed between throughout their 17-year long recording career, the boys from Borlänge have used this, their eighth album, to stretch their musical muscles somewhat further than in the past. Continuing to integrate the elements of the sounds which they have amalgamated to date, they seem to have taken something of a hairpin bend, especially in the lyrical department, where they have eschewed the traditional power metal themes of epic fantasy (although not completely) to address more current issues of global concern, such as the rise of international terrorism.
Things start off in good old classic Teutonic metal style with the Accept-meets-Helloween crunch of ‘Night Of The Hunter’, with its in your face twin guitar assault from Joachim Nordlund and Mats Gesar punching its way from the speakers, underpinned by a dense, throbbing Maiden-style bass groove, courtesy of the outstanding Ulf Lagerstroem, who is as solid as concrete throughout the 12 tracks. And DQ reckons that Johan Lindstedt’s powerful drum kicks wouldn’t sound out of place on an Amon Amarth soundtrack.
The album continues in much the same vein: big riffs coupled with massive melodies and solos capable of searing a steak at 100 metres, underpinned by precise rhythms and overtopped by an extremely competent performance from Johansson, all accentuated by the suitably subtle keyboard atmospherics of Jocke Roberg, which themselves occasionally poke into the foreground, such as on the anthemic title track, which is the sort of fist-pumper destined to get fields of festival goers raising their horns, straining their necks and singing along in devoted appreciation.
With the album echoing more their German contemporaries than their Scandinavian forebears, ‘Worship Or Die’ also possesses moments of introspection and thoughtfulness, especially when, as referenced above, they stray from the conventional lyrical path which one might expect from bands in the power metal sub-genre: the lusciously epic ‘Marathon’, for example, is not about the epic battle of ancient , but the terrorist attack in Boston in 2013. Simultaneously, they also possess that knack of immediately commanding your attention: ‘Concrete Heart’ had DQ singing along to the chorus on just her first listen, which is a massive thumbs up in its own right. And yes, the Dio-esque moments are still there, most pertinently on ‘Light At The End Of The Tunnel’, ‘St Petersburg’ and ‘Let The Fires Burn’.
While doing nothing that re-invents the classic metal genre, what Astral Doors do they do with aplomb, commitment, conviction and passion. Each of the 12 songs is beautifully constructed, with none of the instruments fighting each other for attention (thanks to a stunning production, which draws out every nuance and subtlety): the same can also be said of the balance between the lyrics and the music, which perfectly complement each other, where so many bands operating in this particular sub-genre seem more content to make one contradict the other.
The result is a superb album. A prime exemplar of how this particular style of metal is supposed to be played and presented. Definitely one I will be revisiting when it comes to those inevitable end of year polls.
- ‘Worship Or Die’ is released tomorrow (Friday 26 April). You can get your copy HERE.
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