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Astral Doors - New Revelation review



Reviewer:
8.0

45 users:
8.04
Band: Astral Doors
Album: New Revelation
Release date: September 2007


01. New Revelation
02. Freedom War
03. Pentecostal Bound
04. Bastard Son
05. Waiting For The Master
06. Planet Earth
07. Quisling
08. Cold War Survivor
09. The Gates Of Light
10. Shores Of Solitude
11. Mercenary Man
12. Lament Of The East [Japanese bonus]
13. 21st Century Medieval [Japanese bonus]

Astral Doors is really productive! Even if the band was only formed in 2002, "New Revelation" is already the 5th album of this combo from Sweden. Even if they don't need a lot of time to write new songs, it's obvious that the band is not losing its inspiration, and for sure if you like their previous albums I'm think that you'll enjoy a lot this new one. Astral Door is a classy band of Heavy Metal and in any way you'll have the right to miss this release!

Obviously, Astral Doors is changing. The new album "New Revelation" is a bit different than the previous release of the band. The first important changes come from the fact that the Hammond Organs (even if they're still a bit here) are lot less present now. At the opposite Jocke Roberg use a lot more some classic keyboards (with the same kind of sound that you can find with Power Metal bands). It's not bad at all but a bit disturbing when you know that the Organs were extremely important in the music of Astral Doors in the past. Also, musically speaking "New Revelation" is a lot more Power Metal and doesn't sound so much 70's like "Of The Son And The Father" which was clearly inspirited by Deep Purple and Dio among a lot of other classic Rock (Hard Rock) bands. But if with "New Revelation" Astral Doors has lost some kind of originality (yeah I liked a lot the old school spirit of their music) they has won accessibility with the new CD. "New Revelation" is really catchy and seriously this great mix of Hard Rock and Power Metal will probably attract a lot of new fans and the fact that this album is a lot more melodic than the other ones will be a good way to conquer the charts.

If you read all my Astral Doors reviews you'll see that I always praise their singer Patrik Johansson. It's not different here, I will say it one more time but for me, with Jorn Lande, Patrik is simply the best "new" singer of the Heavy Metal scene. If you don't believe me again, just have a look on their albums and you'll understand why I always say that his voice is unique and damn delicious. But Astral Doors is not only composed of one guy and I think that "New Revelation", technically speaking, is probably the most mature album of the combo. All in all I have nothing to say against this album except maybe that the first four songs aren't the best of the whole album and that "Waiting For The Master" and the following ones are a lot better and surprising.

"New Revelation" is maybe a bit different but still really good, no doubt Astral Doors is a great band of Heavy Metal. If you like their previous album or want to discover this combo, please have a look on "New Revelation" and I'm sure that a lot of you will have a... revelation. Highly recommended to all the people who like Metal from Hard Rock to Heavy and Power.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Jeff | 18.10.2007




Comments

Comments: 3   Visited by: 41 users
18.10.2007 - 16:08
Rating: 8
Bararey
Winter is Coming
I actually never gave this band a chance to hear their music, so I guess I'll start with this album and f I like it start my way backwards to their earlier releases. And honestly, I thought they were formed before 2002 because of the the number of the releases, impressive.
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"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."
Ser Jorah Mormont
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18.10.2007 - 23:11
=maD.Doc:.
Melodeath Master
Good review there Jeff. I agree with you. And to show all you who want to check out, check out my review at this location.
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12.08.2008 - 10:32
Jason W.
Razorbliss
Well this CD is finally getting some promotion in the US (or at least I just got the promotional CD for my radio show), and I really enjoy it The strongest aspect is Patrik's killer vocals, he really puts me in a great mood! So I agree with you all the way Jeff, the music is not so original, but it feels very inspired, and Patrik's vocals give the band the special part that makes them better than most of the power/hard rock bands out there. I hope they continue in this direction!
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"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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