Astral Doors – Requiem of Time

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After turning in an excellent album in the shape of New Revelation three years ago, Astral Doors’ new offering sounds as good as ever, but isn’t really anything particularly special in the songwriting department. The mix of the album is excellent, with a snare drum snap that is simply perfect and there are the usual good riffs and some great melodies. Vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson is as good as he always is, remaining one of the most consistently good vocalists in metal, but all are let down by the quality of the songs. Johansson is constantly compared to Ronnie James Dio in terms of vocal style, and more often than not this isn’t accurate, but on opener Testament of Rock the soft intro is strikingly reminiscent, both musically and vocally, of Black Sabbath‘s Children of The Sea, originally sung by Dio; this time the similarity is unmistakable. The song itself, once it gets started, is a muscular enough power metal track, but is lyrically rock cliché nonsense, as the title would suggest. Again given away by their titles Power And The Glory (not a Saxon cover), Rainbow Warrior, Metal DJ and Fire And Flame fare little better. Call of The Wild‘s Accept riff is classic metal, with some more Dio-ish vocals, but again a lyrical mess. There are strong moments however. St. Peter’s Cross‘s dark edge, pulsing riffing and a magnificent solo on Blood River and some more Dio-era Sabbath-isms on the fantastic brooding closer When Darkness Comes are all undoubted highlights, and among some of the band’s finest moments. Listeners already in favour of Astral Doors’ style will enjoy this; it’s classic Astral Doors. Just don’t pay too much attention to the words.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Astral Doors