GRAND MAGUS
Dear reader, be warned: press play at your peril! For the moment said button is depressed, your balls will swell to the size of planets, your biceps will inflate to mythical proportions, and your courage and determination will multiply far beyond the degree required of your usual and very mundane existence. Struck by an almost uncontrollable desire for battle, you will find yourself galloping ‘On Hooves Ov Gold' clad only in reindeer-hide tunic, chainmail, and sporting a horned helmet swinging your axe at many an innocent bystander. Never mind because it’s ’Steel Versus Steel’ in this ‘Fight’, fury burning inside as you fight to survive. But wait! Not just to survive, oh no, but for the right to survive. Yes, the collective hearts and balls of our fathers, of our fathers’ fathers, and of our father’s fathers’ fathers feasting in the great hall of Valhalla will balloon in proportion to their sense of triumph.
Suitably inflated, we ascend to the sky on robust riffs, revolt-rousing lyrics and unfeasible masculinity and ‘Triumph and Power’ is ours and we hath become the ‘Dominator’! Suck on the power of my mighty chopper, puny mortals! With heritage-reminder ‘Arv’ as interlude, we can catch our breath, regroup, and then prime our tremendous tools of triumph in readiness for ‘Holmgång’, the Viking essence distilled into its cool guitar melodies and JB’s self-assured vocal. Before us lay ‘The Naked And The Dead’, and it serves them right, for there’s no glory or reward to be had in challenging what you cannot compete with. With willpower our guide and the mêlée-inducing acoustic march of ‘Ymer’ to prepare us for the final battle, victory shall be ours. Why? Because ‘The Hammer Will Bite’, that’s why! In the immortal words of Bad News bassist Colin Grigson, “This is Heavy Metal!” D’you know, I think this review should have been written in capital letters...
Suitably inflated, we ascend to the sky on robust riffs, revolt-rousing lyrics and unfeasible masculinity and ‘Triumph and Power’ is ours and we hath become the ‘Dominator’! Suck on the power of my mighty chopper, puny mortals! With heritage-reminder ‘Arv’ as interlude, we can catch our breath, regroup, and then prime our tremendous tools of triumph in readiness for ‘Holmgång’, the Viking essence distilled into its cool guitar melodies and JB’s self-assured vocal. Before us lay ‘The Naked And The Dead’, and it serves them right, for there’s no glory or reward to be had in challenging what you cannot compete with. With willpower our guide and the mêlée-inducing acoustic march of ‘Ymer’ to prepare us for the final battle, victory shall be ours. Why? Because ‘The Hammer Will Bite’, that’s why! In the immortal words of Bad News bassist Colin Grigson, “This is Heavy Metal!” D’you know, I think this review should have been written in capital letters...
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Nuclear Blast
Album
TRIUMPH AND POWER
Review by Jason Guest
RUNNING TIME:
42:09
RELEASE DATE:
31st Jan 2014
TRACK LISTING
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
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
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Sweden
"In the immortal words of Bad News bassist Colin Grigson, “This is Heavy Metal!”"
