Pure Heavy Metal
There are some bands who just propel all kinds of Heavy Metal cliches and music by numbers at you, making it actually quite difficult to sift through the shit to find a band who are genuinely sincere in what they do and if they're any good. Grand Magus are fully sincere, and just so Heavy Metal it almost hurts. Opening track On Hooves Of Gold is as epic sounding its title, something which would probably work brilliantly as an intro at live shows and immediately directs your attention back to this Swedish Heavy Metal wizardry which emerged in the mid to late nineties. There is nothing abundantly new here at all, so don't expect a reinvention of the genre, but Grand Magus do it so well you won't care. If you want to listen to a great new Heavy Metal album then Grand Magus have made one.
All of the necessary battle references and cheese would be nothing if the band couldn't write some absolutely killer riffs to go with it. Some of the riffs across tracks like Fight and Triumph And Power are brilliantly heavy, making it feel like you're listening to some of the early Dio records. Perhaps quite a clear qualm is the fact that it feels slightly repetitive, but the band do try and deal with this through short, weird little interludes which take you away from the battle story-telling aspects and allow the listener to have a bit of a breather before the next onslaught. This truly is an album which will make you want to clench your fists and beat you chest with overly abundant passion.