Released by: 44 Skull Records
Release Date: April 23rd, 2013
Genre: Power metal
Links: www.majesticdimension.com
Line Up:
Lars Göran Nyström – Vocals
Magnus Mild – Guitar
Robin Högdahl– Guitar
Ulrik Zander – Bass
Johan Rask – Drums
Tracklist:
1. A Larger Lie
2. Walls of Tragedy
3. Broken
4. Devil’s Triangle
5. Bringers of Evolution
6. In Silence
7. Breaking Point
8. Days Before the End
9. Final Century
This time around, my review will be quite a bit shorter than my usual ones, since the band I’m presenting with this review doesn’t have a big history nor a big discography yet. The band in question is called Majestic Dimension and they hail from Sweden (Gothenburg, to be more precise!). Their metal weapon of choice is power metal of the melodic kind with some traces of progressive influence and some traditional heavy metal. So, Sweden and power metal. We’re off to a good start. The band is comprised of people which seemingly are all new to the worldly metal scene, as to my knowledge, none of them have been in well-known bands prior to this. So far, they have released an EP back in 2011 titled Last Journey. Clearly, this title wasn’t reflective of the band, since it wasn’t their final journey at all. Now in 2013, we have their first full length album in Bringers of Evolution.
What struck me after listening to Bringers of Evolution for the first time is the voice of vocalist Lars Göran Nyström. His vocal tone is nice and deep, as well as being quite melodic. I swear his voice reminds me of someone but I still can’t exactly point my finger on who. However, I can say that I have picked up some traces of Russell Allen (Symphony X, Star One/Ayreon). That can’t be bad, right? He has a very nice vibrato going without going overboard and becoming annoying like some do. He doesn’t have thickly accented English either, which is a bonus. I really like this man’s voice, I gotta say. He definitely brings a lot to this album. I can’t say that the other band members don’t bring anything of course; everyone involved is clearly quite competent.
So let’s break up this slab of metal a bit. The album starts with “A Larger Lie” which is pretty nice and heavy and has a nice chorus but isn’t all that memorable to me. I feel the same way about “Walls of Tragedy”, I have to say. It’s decent but not spectacular. “Broken” is a much slower, kind of “ballady” song and it might be a bit early in the album to put a song like that but I find it to be a good song. It’s not overly sappy and it’s well written. “Devil’s Triangle” is where the album picked up for the first time for me. It’s a much darker song with an eerie tone and I like that. The vocal performance here is great and with a better production, this would be a fantastic song. The title track “Bringers of Evolution” follows and it is just all-around terrific. It’s a great speedier song, with a nice double-bass sound. It’s just a great power metal song. I actually came back to listen to it several times, so that’s saying a lot. It’s definitely a memorable song. “In Silence” reminds me of Evergrey quite a bit. Now, I don’t mean that as a knock to the band, as I’m a fan of the aforementioned band and I find “In Silence” to be quite a good song. “Breaking Point” is a shorter, punchier track focusing on the band’s heavy side and honestly, while the guitar work is good, the song doesn’t quite work for me. Most of all, I definitely recommend Lars to stay away from that pseudo-harsh tone and also to avoid any wailing in the future; it really breaks the melody of his voice. “Days Before the End” follows and I’m greeted by Lars’s deepest register and holy crap, wow! I love it. He almost sounds like Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine) there, for a split-second. Actually, this whole track is absolutely amazing, both vocally and emotionally. It’s a mellower track but it pulls off the emotion very well and Lars once again triumphs with his voice. The album closes with “Final Century” and it is another good track, nicely heavy and featuring a solid chorus and a cool solo.
In the end, my main problem with the album lies with its pace: It’s a bit too mid-paced and could use a bit more speed. That said, Bringers of Evolution is not a bad album by any means. It’s actually quite good and some songs definitely stand out from the lot (“Devil’s Triangle”, “Bringers of Evolution”, “In Silence”, “Days Before the End” and “Final Century”). I do think the band can definitely tighten their songwriting a bit in the future, but this is their full length debut, so I can’t be too harsh on them for that. I find the production is also a bit thin to me and could use more depth/oomph but the talent and musicianship is definitely there and the band could be in line for much greater things if the follow up album manages to step their game up a little bit. A better choice of track listing would definitely benefit the band, as well; putting ballady songs early on is never recommendable for me and neither is putting all the strongest tracks packed together in the middle of the album.
Despite all my nitpicking and criticism, I have to say I’m surprised at the quality of this album and I’m even more surprised at the vocal talent of Lars Göran Nyström. This man may be my vocal revelation of 2013. He absolutely pushes all the right buttons for my ears. Bringers of Evolution sounded honestly a bit mundane at first listen but after 3 or 4 listens through it, I started to like it a lot more, to the point where I wouldn’t say no to a physical copy of the album. So my bottom line is that if you like your metal melodic, I’d recommend at least lending an ear (or two!) to Majestic Dimension and their debut Bringers of Evolution.
Written by Chris Auclair
Ratings Chris 7/10
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