Artist: Codex, The
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 2.5/5
The Codex is a project made up of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Magnus Karlsson, Mind’s Eye (Swedish progressive metallers) drummer Daniel Flores, singer Marc Boals (ex-Y.J. Malmsteen, Ring Of Fire) and bassist Linus Abrahamson (Nocturnal Alliance). These guys are no joke! Karlsson is known for being busy as an ant, and his working day really doesn’t leave room for a breather. Collaborations with Allen/Lande, stints in Starbreaker, Midnight Sun, Last Tribe, with Tony O’Hora (The Sweet, ex-Praying Mantis), to name just a few, plus the lofty reputation of singer Marc Boals, who has worked with names like Virgil Donatti, Y.J.Malmsteen, Tony McAlpine, are anything but small fry. Throw in the top-notch run of Mind’s Eye records with Flores at the helm, and the sum total is a truly killer formula that, in a lineup like this, simply can’t and won’t screw up.
The album “The Codex” will delight all fans of melodic heavy metal. And I have to be precise here. Melodic heavy metal of the kind that musicians from Scandinavia have been developing and deepening lately. Why didn’t I say melodic power metal? So nobody gets the idea that this has anything in common with bands like The Hammerfall, Sonata Arctica etc… That’s miles away. The trickiest part of all this is the fact that Scandinavian bands today, whether they’re built on a progressive metal or a heavy metal foundation, keep stubbornly blurring the line between melodic hard rock and heavy metal, and even plant bits of AOR into their sound. Thanks to the typical integration of backing vocal harmonies and keyboards. And the other way around, from rock into metal. The line between hard rock and heavy metal is often interestingly blurred today when we run into ”new wave” bands like Platitude, Evil Masquerade, Leverage, Darkwater… With The Codex, though, things are simpler.
Anyone who’s in love with both albums released under the joint banner of singers Jorn Lande (Jorn, ex-Masterplan) and Russell Allen (Symphony X) will fall for “The Codex” right away. The project carries an exceptionally heavy, rhapsodic, mighty and majestic sound, seasoned, plainly put, with epic symphonic bombast. Karlsson’s creative influence is more than obvious here too. Magnus is once again the main source of the basic ideas for building the motifs and carving out the shape of the songs. The graduated build-up of this solemn atmosphere through the pre-chorus into infectiously catchy melodic choruses, where it hits its bombastic, mood-driven peaks, in many spots recalls, in terms of melodic motifs, the album “Escape Into The Sun” (2006), the album by The Sweet singer and bassist Tony O’Hora, on which Karlsson played an important role while it was being made. But the atmosphere on “The Codex” is completely different by comparison. That’s down to the totally different timbre of Marc Boals’ voice. O’Hora is higher still, but a bit thinner and weaker at carrying power from the middle to the upper registers, while Boals has a superb trump card in the seamless transfer of power from the mid range up to the highest notes (a handy shorthand for the “blind” and deaf, read: Dickinson in his prime), so alongside the typical Karlsson keyboard sound, the “The Codex” atmosphere has more of a soaring, solemn feel, something closer to defiance, while the melancholy is a little less present. In terms of melancholy (the basic fruit of Magnus Karlsson’s songwriting and production), you could place it somewhere between the Lande/Russell atmosphere and the atmosphere of Tony O’Hora’s “Escape Into The Sun”.
“The Codex” is probably one of the heaviest albums Karlsson and Boals have ever put together in their careers. Production-wise, the sound picture is filled to the brim. Warmth and solemnity pervade the album, along with yearning and a pinch of mourning and pain. The riffing? Even if you don’t skim the album’s lineup beforehand, it’s easy to feel Karlsson’s approach right away. Once again Karlsson proves he’s an idea factory that spits out effective guitar riffs, building explosive punch as well as catchy fury, which is, however, kept in balance with the keyboards in the production. The riffs hook into each other dynamically, the transitions are witty yet fluid, which gives the album compactness and coherence. The songs are all on an equal footing, crafted at an excellent level, which for the musicians on “The Codex” is more routine than a need to prove and validate themselves, the thing that burns especially in the younger hearts of still-unestablished musicians. The high level of dynamics also comes, of course, from the perfect rhythm section led by Flores, who, despite the tried-and-tested “Karlsson” template, asserts his dominance especially in the transitional parts, where he masterfully carves out space for dizzying drum passages.
“The Codex” is a cautious album. Karlsson and company tackled it inside a genre field they carry in their little finger. Ultra-melodic heavy metal. You’ll be hard pressed to find a finer bible for this definition than the one this album offers. The other reason this album exists at all is definitely that these guys had a whole lot of fun making it, built on their friendship with one another. This is an album tailor-made for the typical crowd of heavy metal fans who are after melodic polish, tight playing that has to be confirmed by (at the very least) top-quality solos, venomous rolling drum transitions, and melody delivered through a well-crafted vocal. All three, together with the production, are the prerequisite for building bombast and the dynamic swell of atmosphere, as well as of the motifs, across the album “The Codex”. Nothing new, but top-notch.
Lineup
Marc Boals – vocals
Magnus Karlsson – guitar, keyboards
Linus Abrahamson – bass
Daniel Flores – drums
Production
Magnus Karlsson
Tracklist
1. Beyond The Dark (5:12)
2. Raise Your Hands (5:37)
3. Toxic Kiss (4:38)
4. Bring Down The Moon (5:54)
5. Running Out Of Hate (5:37)
6. Dream Makers (5:33)
7. Whole Again (6:15)
8. Mistress Of Death (5:58)
9. Mystery (5:39)
10. Prisoner (6:14)
11. You Can Have It All (5:50)
12. Garden Of Grief (6:39)
Running time: 69:06
