Persuader - Necromancy review
| Band: | Persuader |
| Album: | Necromancy |
| Style: | Power metal |
| Release date: | December 04, 2020 |
| A review by: | tominator |
01. The Curse Unbound
02. Scars
03. Raise The Dead
04. Reign Of Darkness
05. Hells Command
06. Gateways
07. The Infernal Fires
Meanwhile, in a church in Sweden?
Thou shall worship old-school Blind Guardian.
And thou shall not question their power
Nor shall thou defy their brilliance
Thou shall proclaim it.
I release thee, go.
Their evangelists you'll be for all time.
And thus were the words of the almighty power metal Gods.
That overly long intro should give you an idea of what we are dealing here. Persuader is clearly a band that adores Blind Guardian's 90s output. And coincidentally this reviewer does as well. Who would have thought it?
Production-wise, this record is simply excellent. It has that power metal polish but with a certain grit added to it. Guitars are stylized but still have personality, the drums have a good punch to them, bass is audible and the vocals are nice and prominent in the mix. This is the kind of production that I really like for a power metal album.
The lyrics are okay. You won't get a "wow" feeling out of them, but they are far from bad. It fits with the music and that's often already above-average in terms of power metal lyrics. On top of that, the overall performance of the band manages to deliver the lyrics in a convincing way. Never did I feel like there were parts that didn't fit. As my good friend Todd Howard would say: "It just works!". (But, in this case that's actually the truth?)
And since we mentioned the performance, let's talk about that a bit more. We get a simply top-notch one from the band, with melodies and riffs that have energy and intensity. As for the vocals, they share the same quality as the music itself. I'm pretty sure that if Jens Carlsson would use his raspy vocals atop a mountain in Sweden, you would be able to hear it here in Belgium? It's quality stuff and adds a lot to the enjoyment of this record. You can easily pick up on the aforementioned connection to Blind Guardian. Just like with Judicator, I feel like the music they make is distinct enough to not make it sound like a carbon copy. However, I will say that Judicator's effort this year differentiates itself a bit more than what Persuader offers with Necromancy.
That being said, this record captivated me from start to finish. It grabs you by the (jingle) balls and demands your attention, and it absolutely deserves that attention. Necromancy is, simply put, a really good album. It's an intense and thoroughly enjoyable ride. So far, it probably is my second favourite Blind Guardian-inspired album of this year? But also, my second favourite power metal record of this year, if I'm honest. I like Judicator's historically inspired lyrics a bit more, but at the same time I slightly prefer the production of this record to Let There Be Nothing's. In the end, it's really close between the two. As a result, I'm going to give it the same score as I would give to Let There Be Nothing. As far as I'm concerned, this is a must-listen for power metal fans.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 10 |
 | Written on 20.12.2020 by You know I'm right, you just haven't realised it yet... |
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 162 users
| mikeprado30 Posts: 1284  |
Best 2020 Power Metal album in my book!
---- BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063  |
Written by mikeprado30 on 20.12.2020 at 03:24 I can definitely understand why. It's a great album and I wouldn't be surprised if others would also pick it as their favourite power metal record of this year.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7596  |
I already commented in the album thread that I felt this album, or if nothing else the first song, was a bit too Blind Guardian-inspired for my liking, between the eerily reminiscent vocal harmonies, chorus phrasing, guitar leads, etc. - it's definitely one of the best power metal albums this year, but I think Judicator was slightly less glaring in how similar they were to BG (I know Persuader are a lot older, but they still came after the period of BG that they bear such a resemblance to), so I would give Judicator the nod in terms of power metal AOTY
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063 |
Written by musclassia on 20.12.2020 at 13:14 I never really felt like it was too much inspired by Blind Guardian. But I definitely agree that they came at times closer to the line where it could be too similar. Like I mentioned in the review, in terms of score they get the same but overall I would give Judicator's record the slight edge. That's why it's the power metal album with the highest spot on my ranking of 2020 that I'm working on. And given that the year is about to end and I'll publish my list in a week or so, I think the chances of that changing are pretty slim.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7596 |
Written by tominator on 20.12.2020 at 13:39 Idk, moments in The Curse Unbound like at 2:03, 2:13 or especially 3:25, the most egregious example for me (the guitar lick and the 'remember my name, my friend'), are too eerily similar for my liking; if I heard them and didn't know what I was listening to I would assume I was listening to BG B-sides I hadn't heard before. It's not that it's just similar elements, it's the tones and the note sequences are so similar. It's like in the Pull Down The Sun debut from this year that I reviewed when they had bits that were inspired by Gojira, and bits that were virtually ripped from Gojira songs - I think there's a difference between being inspired by a band and straight-up replicating their signature moves, and I found bits of this album fell into that uncanny valley in a way Judicator just about avoided despite the blatant inspiration from BG But I totally understand why people like it, and it's definitely preferable to a lot of recent power metal I've heard, just because they're a very competent band that draws their biggest inspiration from my favourite power metal band
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 61932  |
This is strong, bard singers from the twilligt hall from some where far beyond. Killer album indeed
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063 |
Written by musclassia on 20.12.2020 at 14:32 The Curse Unbound is definitely the one track that has the biggest similarities. Especially the vocals sound eerily similar at the parts you mentioned. And the guitar parts do tend to sound like they could have been on a Blind Guardian album. 3:25 Especially. But then parts like 4:06 (until 4:20) and 6:13 are parts I wouldn't necessarily expect on a Blind Guardian album. Overall throughout the whole record I felt like they did enough to not sound like a carbon copy. But I can see and understand that for others the similarities might be a bit too much to not sound like they're ripping off at certain parts.
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| chella1788 Posts: 5 |
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063 |
Written by chella1788 on 21.12.2020 at 04:27 I do agree that their voices are really similar. But a huge part also comes with delivery I think. That's also quite similar between them, which makes differentiating between them even harder.
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7308  |
The vocals are the main but not the only reason that this sounds like BG. I don't mind it so much though. It is a good album and another good review. Your reviews are fun to read 
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| tominator At best deranged Contributor Posts: 1063 |
Written by nikarg on 21.12.2020 at 15:41 Thanks a lot! 
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 5055  |
Pretty good album, not as good as the one before, I enjoyed the previous one more.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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