WhiteTrashDevil
Jam
Review by Jam
Grand Magus sound unlike a lot of the current crop of heavy rock bands, because thereīs a distinct metal flavor to the songs. And Iīm talkinī old school metal, a Zeppelin-ish fascination with the medieval and darkly mystical. But it works. The songs donīt ever feel Manowar-ish.
Most of this is due to JBīs soulful vocals and tasteful riffs. Itīs no wonder that Spiritual Beggars snatched him up when Spice left; this guy has a great voice and uses it well. He has this amazingly honest, bluesy style. What jumps out here are the vocals and the melody thrown in. Almost every song here has a memorable lyric and/or melody. It just sounds good, yīknow?
Lyrically thereīs some odd, almost out of nowhere pagan/anti-Christian ranting in "Lodbrok" and "Mountain Of Power", but then if you are at this site that probably wonīt matter. I just found it out of place, not offensive. (Why would I?)
Honestly, I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this record. It has a real swagger to it, not a lick of irony, and a ton of soul put behind lyrics a lot of people would classify as cheesy. And the playing stands out as well. These guys play well together and the production is nice and even. But the stand out here is the vocals, deep, soulful vocals with lots of emotion, and power. Guys like Scott Stapp wish they had this kind of soul.
Published on 04/29/02
http://www.whitetrashdevil.com/page.php?load=jam064&cat=albums
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