Band:	Narnia
Album:	Ghost Town
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	March 2023

01. Rebel
02. Thief
03. Hold On
04. Glory Daze
05. Descension
06. Ghost Town
07. Alive
08. Modern Day Pharisees
09. Out Of The Silence
10. Wake Up Call

Power metal that unfortunately lacks the staying power...

I’ll be upfront right from the start: I’m a novice when it comes down to Narnia, both the band and the books. In both cases, I knew of their existence, and that would be about it. So, Ghost Town was my first experience with Narnia’s music.

The lyrics are something that immediately jump out. Not because they’re good necessarily, but because it seems like this band has 2 themes that it likes to use: Narnia (I know, what a surprise!) and Bible stuff. I didn’t know this band were Jesus lovers. I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s totally fine, but all in all I felt like the lyrical themes were quite limited and became predictable really quickly. And not only the themes, but the lyrics themselves as well. Case in point: as soon as I knew that quite a few of the songs would have biblical themes and lyrics, I was already pulling out my Bingo card for “that line”. You know, that biblical line that so many bands like to use because it sounds cool: “Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust”. And lo and behold, it actually happened halfway through the album with the song "Descension". It’s even part of the chorus! I feel like I deserve bonus points for that. All in all, the lyrics aren’t any worse than a lot of other power metal lyrics, but it’s certainly not an aspect that elevates Ghost Town in any way compared to other power metal records.

Enough about the lyrics, though. What about the performances of the band members? It’s overall fine, but I didn’t really feel like there were any outstanding or notable things to mention. Very competent, but I feel these kinds of performances are like getting crucified during the era of the Roman Empire, not all that uncommon...

Though, that feeling is probably strongly reinforced by the production of this record. Where’s the power in this power metal album? When I think of power metal, I think of a bombastic, epic or high-energy sound, often a combination of those 3. However, this feels quite tame and relatively uninspired; the guitars are held back way too much for my taste. The only real exception is ”Glory Daze”, which actually has some “oomph” behind it. The drums have a deep end to them. That’s a good thing, because that avoids the issue of them sounding thin, but sadly, they sound quite monotone in the mix. I like to hear drums in which each part of the drum set has its distinct sound; that’s not the case here. It all sounds a bit muddled, if I’m being honest.

Conclusion. Is this a bad record? No. Yet again, I have found a record that isn’t badly made, but one that doesn’t manage to excite me in any way. Ghost Town is the typical 'once and done' kind of album. You listen to it once, and you don’t feel compelled to listen to it again. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this one. Most other generic power metal albums are already a better alternative, given that at least their production has a bit more excitement behind it.