SORCERER
SORCERER– “Reign of the Reaper”
By Colonel Angus
When I was giving this new release from SORCERER, I was a little hesitant about whether I would like it because like power metal, doom metal is a genre that holds little interest for me. Well, let me correct myself, power metal and doom metal have so many groups and artists but only a few of them rise to the top for me to really take notice. Luckily for me, SORCERER is one of those bands that definitely rises above a slew of doom metalers out there and it is mainly due to the fact that they are not just a doom metal band. That tag is a bit misleading in my eyes (ears!) as this latest album “Reign of the Reaper” only has three tracks that I would consider to be doom.
And when I say doom, I mean those slower dirge-like, heavy tunes that plod along. “Unveiling Blasphemy” and closing sing “Break of Dawn” are the tracks that have that slower tempo that I associate with doom metal but elsewhere we get some tunes that remind me of Tony Martin era BLACK SABBATH. Opening statement “Morning Star” has some of that euro-power metal feel but most of it reminds me of that SABBATH era so much that singer Anders Engberg reminds me of Martin during many of the passages on that tune. They do add some modern elements with some pseudo cookie-monster vocals and they “gang” vocals in places. It’s a nice mash-up of some different styles that somehow work very well together while still retaining a doom-ish foundation. The title track continues on with that Martin-era SABBATH sound but I also hear a little bit of DIO mixed in. There are some great parts that they add in like the symphonic metal moment in the middle and the YNGWIE MALMSTEEN inspired guitar solo but the basis for the tune sounds like a long lost track off of SABBATH’s “Tyr” record. There are aspects of this album that follow more classic traditional metal and “Thy Kingdom Will Come” is a perfect example of SORCERER just going for the throat with a no-frills track. Again, the vocal performance of Engberg is perfect adding drama to whole feel of this tune.
The album doesn’t really have a ballad per se but “Eternal Sleep” is the closest you would get with true metal bands (i.e. not hair metal, pop metal, or glam metal). So far SORCERER have done a great job or sequencing the record so that right off the bat, you get a great mix of different styles and tempos. The symphonic elements really kick in at the beginning of “Curse of Medusa” and it elevates the track to have an almost cinematic sound. Even though the whole “Reign of the Reaper” disk is full of epic sounding songs, this one has just that little bit more that makes it stand out. The last tune that I haven’t mentioned yet is “The Underworld” that starts off in a very MOTÖRHEAD sounding guitar riff but quickly turns into this galloping metal track that incorporates some those symphonic elements in the chorus.
All in all, this is a very good effort and I need to stop reading pre-release material because this record is so much more than a doom metal offering. There is so much here for me to latch onto that I went and listened to their earlier albums and I find this one the best of the bunch. Their last album “Lamenting of the Innocent” was really good as well but “Reign of the Reaper” is a better effort. Part of the reason that I like this one more is due to the length. Hear me out on this one – “Reign of the Reaper” is approximately 24 minutes shorter and I think that helps a lot because more does not always mean better. While “Lamenting of the Innocent” didn’t have any dud tracks, there were songs that worked better than others. This new album is long enough to satisfy any metal urges but it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Each tune seems to have a purpose and I wouldn’t shed a single minute from it. The same band created both of these last two releases and by the sound of “Reign of the Reaper”, they seemed to have found the right chemistry. For anyone who digs the Martin-era BLACK SABBATH, then I highly recommend you get your hands on this disk. You won’t be disappointed, I guarantee it.