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Worship Metal Album Of The Week – Grand Magus – Sword Songs

Songs about swords, eagles, gods and HEAVY FUCKIN' METAL!

Grand Magus Source // nuclearblast.de

Since forming back in the late 90’s, Sweden’s Grand Magus have morphed from doom inspired rockers to straight up heavy metal gods of the highest order; their style first showing signs of change on 2008’s outstanding Iron Will and since then they’ve barely put a chain-mailed foot wrong. It’ll come as no surprise then that new release Sword Songs is another rip-snorter of an album!

Before we even start on the music, it’d be remiss not to acknowledge Sword Songs’ none-more-metal artwork of a big fuck-off eagle brandishing a broadsword in it’s talons. It’s metal as fuck in other words and the perfect visual accompaniment to Grand Magus’ true classic metal style.

Sword Songs kicks off in grand style with “Freja’s Choice” and from there the album just get’s better and better with the marauding “Varangian” – and its epic, chest-beating refrain of “Warriors, defenders of steel” – just begging to be hollered in every sweaty club and muddy field across the land. “Forged in Iron – Crowned in Steel” and the closing “Everyday There’s a Battle to Fight” – with their melodic beefy riffs and hooks – are album highlights while “Master of the Land” is a nod to their ‘doomier’ past.

The thing about JB (vocals/guitar), Fox (bass) and Ludwig Witt (drums) is that they’re never overly flashy or exhibit the need to showboat in any way. The key to their song-craft has always been powerful music married to great hooks and Sword Songs has taken their classic heavy metal sound and further reduced it to its core elements; with drums that can punch a hole through your skull, pulsing bass, riffs big enough to shift tectonic plates and JB’s wounded howling vocals combining to form a head-banging, horns-raising highlight of 2016.

Simply put, Sword Songs is glorious, life affirming stuff. An album that demands to be played loud night and day and your neighbours be damned; they ought to be listening to music of this calibre anyway! 10/10

About Gavin O'Connor (161 Articles)
Lifelong Heavy Metal fan. First got into Quo and Leppard, when I was 9 or so I first heard Megadeth and that was me hooked

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