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Grand Magus: Triumph and power
28/02/14 || Habakuk
You can call me a Grand Magus fan since “Iron Will”, which really opened my eyes or ears respectively for what these Swedes have to offer – catchy, stripped-to-the-basics heavy metal with a seriously bad-ass singer.
You can also call me a Manowar fan of sorts. I’m just a sucker for working formulas, formulaic as they might be. Hue hue. Anyway, I was a little surprised to hear so much Manowar in this new effort by the mighty Magus. It’s not just the title, I actually count 6 buzzwords of steel in the first five song names. So in terms of topics, we’re clearly deep in metal territory here, and the lyrics too show a surprisingly imbecile approach – we will fight for the right to defend, fight for the right till the end, conquer and divide, fight for the right to survive ? Alright alright, guys. Take it easy there. The thing is, just like in Manowar, the singer makes up for a lot of the content.
Good thing two other things have not been adapted from the valued Americans, though: There are riffs and there is groove, two virtues sorely neglected across the pond sometimes. Grand Magus just have the feeling for making things work with simple ingredients, and the result often comes out in a way that makes it almost irresistible to follow with ample nodding of the head. It’s the really small details that showcase a real gut feel for music. That tiny little dragging of the first syllable “Theee…. hammer will bite!” (4:50) in said song for example, which fits perfectly into the sluggish groove around it. This is stuff you either do or don’t, and JB has a very natural way of well, doing it.
It comes with the three-piece line up that there is very little room for covering up weaknesses though. Everything is in plain view all the time, and towards the middle of the album, there is a short period where there’s not enough happening. Before you know though, they manage to capture your attention again – some cheap effects might have worked better in terms of memorability maybe, but overall, I’m happy they don’t need that. Still, they should have sacked at least one of the two interludes that are a bit uncomfortably placed, disconnecting the songs in the second half of the disc unnecessarily from each other, thus leaving some of the material a little disadvantaged.
So, as usual with Grand Magus, it is perfectly possible to take home a few strokes of genius from this album, and a small bit of it works well as breathing space (I wouldn’t say filler), but really doesn’t do much for me on its own. Still I would recommend this album to both folk unfamiliar and familiar with the band – as always it’s worth it, just don’t expect a full-on barrage of awesomeness. A few well-placed salvos must suffice. Oh, and fuck that artwork.
- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Nuclear Blast Records
- Website: www.grandmagus.com
- Band
- JB Christofferson: vocals, guitars
- Fox Skinner: bass
- Ludwig Witt: drums
- Tracklist
- 1. On hooves of gold
- 2. Steel versus steel
- 3. Fight
- 4. Triumph and power
- 5. Dominator
- 6. Arv
- 7. Holmgång
- 8. The naked and the dead
- 9. Ymer
- 10. The hammer will bite
