Featuring new albums from Temtris, John Diva & The Rockets Of Love, Narnia & Category VI! …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE
From Darkness To Light is the 8th studio release from Swedish Progressive Metal/Neoclassical band Narnia. Taking their name from the C.S Lewis novels, Narnia is certainly not shy about their Christian themed lyrical content. Whereas that might normally be a deterrent for some, it is very tastefully done. The lyrics have an epic quality to them, as if recanting a knights journey thru a perilous land, as opposed to an overt evangelistic bent. It also helps that this is a world class album. From Darkness To Light kicks off with “A Crack In The Sky”, a very Progressive but hard driving and melodic offering that sets the tone for the entire record. One cant help but draw comparisons to Dream Theater sonically and production wise. Christian Liljegren’s vocals are alternately gritty and melodious, as needed. CJ Grimmark’s guitar work is crisp and impressive throughout. Andreas “Habo” Johansson grooves and syncopates, adding dimension to the arrangements, and Martin Härenstam, keyboards and Jonatan Samuelsson, bass, add lush and satisfying texture. Not every song relies heavily on Progressive elements. “The Air That I Breathe”, for example, is a pretty straightforward modern hard rocker. Overall, From Darkness To Light is well done. Fans of Progressive Metal, Hard Rock, Melodic Rock, Dream Theater, and of course, longtime Narnia fans will find some good listening here. TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!
Featuring new albums from Death SS, Turilli / Lione Rhapsody, Thunderfuck And The Deadly Romantics & Narnia! …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE …READ MORE
Sweden’s Christian Rockers Narnia are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, and a self-titled full-length album is set for release to mark the moment. Narnia has evolved (and devolved) a few times throughout their career, beginning essentially in the Neo-classical Metal subgenre, then morphing in favor of Melodic and Power Metal. This new release is predominantly Power Metal … but more tame than what you’d hear from many German bands, less gritty than the American bands, and less technically precise than the Brazilian bands. In other words, it’s smooth Power Metal … less aggressive, if you will. There are no “bad” songs on this Narnia release and it’s well-produced … however, the (unfortunate) noticeable flaw with most of the tracks is that the lyrics feel as if they were “force-fit” into the music. There isn’t that hand-in-velvet-glove seamlessness found to perfectly tie in the lyrical patterns and melodies into the musical structures and tempos, making for a good album that tends to feel cumbersome. Perhaps the band’s desire to get their devout Christian messages across in the lyrics compromised their ability to create well-structured songs that always “make sense” from every angle. TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!
Tune in the Daily Album Premiere Show to hear the finest metal releases just now hitting the streets! See this week’s schedule here! DAY BAND ALBUM Monday Iron Fire Among the Dead Tuesday Meridian Breaking The Surface Wednesday Temperance The Earth Embraces Us All Thursday Narnia Narnia Songs from these new releases will be featured at 6:00/18:00 CET & Midnight/Noon EST on the days indicated. All featured albums will have a short review posted the day it’s on the show! The FRIDAY edition of the Daily Album Premiere show contains 3 tracks from each of the Daily Premiere Albums. Be sure to tune in here! See all the new albums on power rotation here!
It is safe to assume that the word Narnia is known to most people through the 2005 motion picture The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, maybe to some even through CS Lewis’ books. But, this may be news for most of you: There is a fine Scandinavian Melodic Metal Band with that name, and Enter The Gate is already their fifth album. Their musical career began in 1998, when they released their debut on Nuclear Blast Records and supported Dio on his 1998 European Tour. After three more albums for Nuclear Blast, this current release is on Massacre Records, who have proven to be a good haven for Melodic Rock and Power Metal bands in the past, and their instincts were right again. Enter The Gate is Narnia’s best album to date. The opening track “Into This Game” already gets you in the mood with vibrant guitars and strong keyboards, which are sometimes overly dominant. Guitarist Carl Johann Grimmark, who can be found on various albums of Savior Machine and Bob Rock, services the songs rather than his ego, something which cannot be said about every Scandinavian guitar player. But, the most distinctive feature of Narnia’s music is definitely Christian Rivel’s outstanding voice, which sets them positively apart from a lot of the genre’s current output. Memorable melodies and catchy choruses make you nod your head immediately, and don’t be surprised to find yourself unconsciously singing along … The opener, the fastest song of the album, “People Of The Bloodred Cross,” and the mid-tempo “Another World,” make a winning trio that alone would make this album worth buying. Especially in “Another World,” it is striking how Grimmark sets a course with only a few well-placed notes and creates an atmosphere that makes it easily the …READ MORE
Creating tribute albums is a tricky endeavor. Let’s be realistic…many things can go wrong with a tribute album from the get-go, causing the listener to wonder if the album was really intended to honor the tribute band or artist in the first place! To start, nobody creates a tribute album for a “no-name” band or artist…the band or artist is typically a household name (as is Uriah Heep) and the songs are known well by their fans. Adding to the challenge, the tribute band’s or artist’s sound and style likely have become fondly entrenched into the fans’ musical memory archives. As is the case with virtually all tribute albums, the bands participating normally embellish their own flavor and style, which unfortunately can quickly alienate the loyal fans of the tribute band or artist who feel nobody should jack around with “perfection”. With the above in mind, the formula for success when creating a tribute album (at least in my book) is: 1). Choose the bands carefully – Having Snoop-Doggy-Dog try to cover a Metallica song, for example, just isn’t going to work. 2). Don’t disrespect the tribute band by skimping on the production quality – Keep it professional and up to snuff. 3). Keep the interpretations of each song down to earth – Fans of the tribute band generally are going to be quickly turned off if slow tempo songs are suddenly fast-paced and vice versa. 4). Lastly, make sure most of the songs selected for the tribute album are recognizable – Listeners who have an interest in the tribute band, but can’t recite each song off of each album on demand, want to hear songs that feel familiar. Overall, A Return to Fantasy scores high on most of the criteria listed above and is a solid tribute album from …READ MORE
Narnia from Sweden is back with album number three. “Desert Land” sees a rawer and rougher edge to the band, but the roots of the band are not interfered. Still you can hear obvious Rainbow influence in the so-called neo-classical sound, which fits the singer Christian Liljegren’s voice perfectly. Here and there the guy actually reminds a bit of Khan from Kamelot, while Narnia uses synth a bit differently than the Americans. Carl-Johan Grimmark brings my thoughts to a more famous exile-Swedish guitar player, whose originality also is very doubtful, but overall I think Grimmark does a decent job. He even calms down beautifully in the instrumental “Misty Morning”, like a Gary Moore at the time when he didn’t depress us with his bluesy roots. This is simply recommended.