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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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BLACK MAJESTY
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Silent Company
2005
Limb Music
http://www.blackmajesty.com
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1. Dragon Reborn
2. Silent Company
3. Six Ribbons
4. Firestorm
5. New Horizons
6. Darkened Room
7. Visionary
8. Never Surrender
9. A Better Way To Die
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When I read that Piet Sielck (Iron Savior) had part in producing this album, I frowned a bit. I certainly don't know all his productions, but I've heard a few that IMO had a too big Iron Savior stamp on it. I however have no reason to frown when I put Black Majesty in my player! The production is just fine en brings the band's musicianship and songwriting talents to the front. Credits for that shouldn't only go to Piet (he recorded the drums), but moreso to Endel Rivers in Melbourne, who also produced the debut album "Sands Of Time".
Roaming in the melodic power metal field between early Iron Maiden, Helloween and even some early Queensryche, but all of that with a more epic twist, these Australians bring us a high quality product full of great melodies, good guitarsolos by outstanding guitarists Stevie Janevski and Hanny Mohamed, and a perfect voice for this kind of music. John Cavaliere sings in the vein of the big names in the power metal genre, but regularly sounds like Dickinson most of all. It's all once again not really anything new under the sun, but the songs are good and extremely well performed, so what's to bitch? ;)
Highlights for me are "Dragon Reborn" (a good and powerful opener), the more melodic "Silent Company", "Darkened Room" that stands out because it's slower (I esp. love the underlying guitarriffs in the chorus), closing song "A Better Way To Die" and the song that stands out the most because it sounds so different: "Six Ribbons", a great heavy version of a 1977 Jon English song that has been a big hit in Australia. It's a ballad with some folk influences and a female voice (of Susie Goritchan) to complement John's. The album title "Silent Company" has a spiritual meaning for the band. John's father passed away during the recording (as you can read in the interview we have online) and the title represents a spirit watching over them.
The beautiful artwork is again done by Dirk Illing and the limited digipack contains two bonus tracks ("Chasing Time" and an acoustic version of "Guardian" from "Sands Of Time"), plus a videoclip of "Silent Company"! Well worth your money to get this nice package along with some great power metal!
submitted by Marlies 02.08.2005
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rating 1 - 5 Morrigans
5 = awesome, 4 = good, 3 = average, 2 = keep practising, 1 = sell your gear!
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