Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Majesty
Label: 57 Records
Release: 2015
Length: 51:45
Rating: 3/5
Majesty are a German power metal band that’s been around since 1997. In 2008 they renamed themselves Metal Force for three years – that happened during the Magic Circle Festival, organized by their big heroes Manowar. Since 2011 they’ve been back under the name Majesty. »Generation Steel« is the band’s ninth studio album, and once again Majesty stay the stylistic and sonic constant. They don’t budge an inch from their vision. They stay loyal and dead set on what they do. That isn’t necessarily a good thing, though, since it’s way too easy for labels like instant, predictable and boring to stick to you.
Their power metal is still heavily influenced by the oily American muscle-men Manowar, which the opener Hawks Will Fly makes obvious right away – down to the vocal style in the chorus from Tarek Maghary, the only original member of today’s Majesty.
Ten tracks add up to more than fifty minutes of music. The riffs and lead melodies in the compositions are as generic as they come. We’ve heard them many times before, and repackaged and served up again even more often. Double bass drum pedals floored to the max, a guitar riff on top optionally backed by synths, which adds the atmospheric charge and pomp the album is once again chock-full of. A classic power metal formula, in other words. The album is bound to please fans of bands like Powerwolf, Wizard, and also older American “savage” metallers Virgin Steele, plus the already mentioned Manowar.
The arrangements don’t hide their occasional naivety, like adding a children’s choir in the track Children of the Dark, which somehow doesn’t belong in the real iron that noisy, uncompromising heavy metal is supposed to forge. Likewise, some of the solutions with thundering male choirs thrown into the songs are a chewed-up, archaic move that worked in power metal fifteen years ago (Shout At the World). Behind all this warrior-theater naivety hides a touch of playful mockery. If you don’t get bogged down by the naivety, the album will entertain you greatly precisely because of it. The album is perfectly easygoing, and hardcore power metal fans won’t bow down to it. Including the mangled Americanese of the male choir chants, which draws out even more laughs.
So Majesty change absolutely nothing in their playing and presence. Generation Steel is an uncompromising power metal monument, doggedly and incorrigibly generic. The day after tomorrow, March 23, 2015, you can see for yourself live at their show at Gala Hala in Ljubljana, where a true power metal party awaits!
Line-up
Tarek “MS” Maghary – vocals
Tristan Visser – guitar
Robin Hadamovsky – guitar
Alex Voß – bass
Jan Raddatz – drums
Tracklist
01. Hawks Will Fly
02. Generation Steel
03. Circle Of Rage
04. Shout At The World
05. Damnation Hero
06. Children Of The Dark
07. The Last Reward
08. Knights Of The Empire
09. Rulers Of The World
10. War For Metal
