I must admit that when I think of Swedish metal, I’m thinking of bands like Miseration, Opeth, and other ultra-heavy bands in those genres and unfortunately when I think of power metal from Sweden, My first thought is the band Europe. Big hair, soaring choruses, very radio-friendly and completely inoffensive metal, which seems like a contradiction in terms and that is the image I have. Thankfully, on their sixth album ReinXeed have delivered a great example of symphonic power metal and have gone a long ways toward erasing any association in my mind of Swedish bands and the band Europe.
ReinXeed found its start in the town of Vendeln in northern Sweden when Tommy ReinXeed Johansson and two friends started rehearsing under the name ReinXeed. This incarnation of the band was shortlived and Tommy was on his own for a bit, still writing music, epic symphonic power metal. In 2007, Christian Liljegren (ex-Narnia) and owner of Liljegren Records received a demo from ReinXeed and quickly added them to his label. Since being signed, ReinXeed have released five albums prior to A New World and these have met with critical acclaim in many different reviews and the band enjoys a good bit of popularity in Japan as well as in Europe. Somewhat interestingly, the band was part of the project Swedish Hitz Goes Metal in which they covered songs by ABBA, Ace of Base, and Roxette. This culminated in a tv appearance on Swedish tv in front of a live audience of 30,000 people and watched by over 2 milliion.
Those familiar with symphonic power metal know what to expect in terms of sound, and ReinXeed deliver on all counts. Strong soaring vocals and choruses, good guitar solos, keyboards lending some atmosphere, strong rhythm section, and songs that even by title can provoke images of adventure are all found in abundance on this album. Albums in this genre often succeed or fail on the strength of the vocals and lead guitar work and ReinXeed is strong on both counts with both Tommy ReinXeed and Alex Oriz both delivering on vocals and guitar solos. This is readily apparent in the song and video for “Guitar Hero” where Tommy and Alex engage in some dual solo work in harmony before Tommy takes the lead and in some of the riffing throughout the rest of the song.
The album kicks off with “Distant Horizon”, starting with a symphonic guitar and keyboard harmony before the rest of the band joins in a fast galloping riff that carries through much of the song. Immediately one can sense the inherent upbeat almost brightness to the sound of this album. In general, I prefer things a bit darker in tone and delivery, as I find this brighter style often leads to softer music that loses its edge. Throughout A New World, that was my only concern as the album strayed close to the pop/radio-friendly soft metal style from time to time.
From a production standpoint the album is very clean and mixed very well. I do have my own set of issues with the guitar tone in general as it sounds too similar to the keyboards on many songs and that is likely adds to my concerns mentioned earlier about the sound being a bit soft at times. In another sense, a bit more emphasis on guitar in the overall sound may help lessen my concerns and I imagine in a live setting, this would not be an issue. Musicianship is excellent throughout and in addition to the great guitar work, the song “Guitar Hero” briefly showcases some of the talents of Christ David on bass and Alfred Fridhagen on drums.
The album closes with “A New World” which is a bit of a contrast with “Guitar Hero”, the previous track. Whereas “Guitar Hero” is a straight ahead rock song with a driving rhythm throughout, “A New World” is more of an epic tale. Keyboards start out the song and carry the melody along for a bit before fading into the background with just bass and drums carrying the song with the vocals until the rest of the band comes back in. At this point, the song goes into some of the extended verse section with almost spoken vocals complemented by the soaring chorus/backing vocals. Around the midpoint, the song shifts into a new phase with a brief section of almost jackhammer type riffs and chorus vocals that eventually pick up into a galloping beat. Backing vocals almost adopt a choir-like flavor before a guitar solo comes in and carries the song along, taking the place of the vocals. As you can imagine from the description, there is a lot going on in this song and at nearly 9 minutes it is the longest on the album and a fitting close as it highlights all that is good within the genre and on the album.
Rating: 7/10
Tracklist:
1 Distant Horizon 5:02
2 Into The Darkness 4:35
3 The Journey home 3:32
4 The Star 5:01
5 Final Destination 4:02
6 Northern Allstars 3:33
7 Chalice Of Time 5:12
8 Curse and Damnation 3:51
9 Guitar Hero 5:33
10 A New World 8:47
Band Members
Tommy ReinXeed – Vocals / Guitars
Alex Oriz – Guitar / Vocals
Chris David – Bass
Alfred Fridhagen – Drums
Discography
The Light [2008]
Higher [2009]
Majestic [2010]
1912 [2011] [review]
Swedish Hitz Goes Metal [2011] [review]
Welcome To The Theater [2012] [review]
Record Label: Doolittle Group, Sept. 2013
Weblinks: Facebook / Myspace / Twitter
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
USA: Metal Helm
Video below “Guitar Hero”