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Artist: Jag Panzer |
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It's
been a long time since the name of American Metalheads Jag Panzer has
donned an album cover, to be more precise it was 2004 when the band stirred
up their fan base with the harder edged ‘Casting The Stones’, to say
the album got mixed reviews would be an understatement. But
when guitarist Chris Broderick left to join Megadeth, the bands two main
songwriters Mark Briody and Christian Lasegue seemed to get a new lease
of life for the bands original sound and sought to bring that back to
life with
their latest album ‘The Scourge of the Light’. With
Harry “The Tyrant" Conkin at the helm with his towering vocals, along
with John Tetley on bass and Rikard Stierquist on drums, Jag Panzer are
back and bigger and better than ever before. The album is pure Melodic
Power Metal at its finest, which kicks serious ass from the off with
opener ‘Condemned to Fight’, with Briody and Lasegue simply sublime
on the guitars, while Tetley and Stierquist deliver a mighty back-beat.
This is all the more enriched by the towering vocal might of Conkin.
A blazing start
and a welcome back to the Jag Panzer style of old. The
all conquering might of Jag Panzer is brought full circle with superb
‘The Setting Sun’, a real powerhouse of a track, not just musically
but also lyrically. The band have definitely returned to the sound that
their fans first fell in love back in the ‘Ample Destruction‘ days
of the early eighties. The
fantastic riff fuelled Power Metal continues with the mighty ‘Bringing
on the End’ and the simply stunning ‘Call to Arms’. This is where
the twin guitars of Briody and Laseque really come into their own, and
with Conklin at his powerful best, this is definitely going to be a firm
fan favourite. The
tempo is picked up as the band simply rip things up with ‘Cycles’,
where they mix up traditional metal with a progressive edge without
going all Prog Metal. Then it's back to the Power Metal of old with the
massive ‘Overlord’. Again Conklin is at his vocal best on the full
throttle no nonsense of ‘Let It Out’ where Briody and Laseque are
left to unleash a twin guitar assault worthy of Downing and Tipton
stature. The
blazing Power Metal continues with the bass and drum majesty of
‘Union’ before it's a complete switch for the intro into ‘Burn’.
A
gentle start to the proceedings that is just shattered beyond belief as
the guitars take the lead, then they are overtaken by the vocal might of
Conklin, a real multifaceted piece that will simply rock your world. The
album closes in epic style with the eight-minute plus masterpiece ‘The
Book Of Kells’ which tells the tale of a man whose tattoos come to
life. A real corker of a track which ends the Jag Panzer album the fans
knew that they were capable of and one the fans deserve. |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Condemned to Fight |
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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