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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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THY MAJESTIE
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Hastings 1066
2002
Scarlet Records
http://www.thymajestie.com
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1. Rerum Memoria
2. The King And The Warrior
3. Intro Echoes
4. Echoes Of War
5. The Sight Of Telham Hill
6. Incipit Bellum
7. Intro Scream
8. The Scream Of Taillefer
9. Intro Anger
10. Anger Of Fate
11. Intro Pride
12. The Pride Of A Housecarl
13. Through The Bridge Of Spears
14. Demons On The Crown
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The Italian Thy Majestie are here again. This time with their latest effort called "Hastings 1066". For starters I might just say that if you liked the debut album, you will absolutely love this one. Each and every little thing has improved from "The Lasting Power". If you're still wondering what we have here....symphonic epic power metal in the vein of Rhapsody, I'd say. This is a concept album freely inspired by the battle that took place in Hastings in 1066 quite obviously and the music does indeed reflect the atmosphere of a medieval battlefield with choirs and massive orchestral arrangements.
The album begins with a really massive orchestral prelude and is soon followed by a fast and furious power metal anthem "The King And The Warrior" and that is followed by "Echoes Of War" which holds really epic feeling emphasized by bagpipes and somewhat haunting female vocals. All in all the catchy choruses are, cunningly, mostly held back for a while, but once you get to hear them you're totally blown away! Check the chorus on "The Scream Of Taillefer" for instance and you'll know what I mean. Luckily not all the songs are mindless double bass blasts, and that makes the album all the more enjoyable with some slower tunes added to the potion.
For some odd reason the singer (his voice) is immediately recognizable as Italian, but I assure, not in a bad way! His voice is a bit dramatical and somewhat similar to that of Fabio Lione's of Rhapsody. There are 14 tracks on the album, of which 8 are "real" songs, a few are massive orchestral arrangements and the few remaining are preludes to the "real" ones. The orchestration and the overall atmosphere create a really massive and dramatic feeling that lasts throughout the album. Sometimes a certain instrument being prominent suits the overall outcome quite well but with Thy Majestie's case none of the instrumnets steal space from others and therefore the final outcome sounds really balanced. The main songwriter is the keyboardist Giuseppe Bondi and with these results I must say that he's nothing short of a power metal genius.
This is only Thy Majestie's second album and it being this mature, memorable and massive I can but wonder what miraculous things they are capable of with their future releases. Highly recommended for fans of symphonic and epic power metal.
submitted by Aleksi 01.01.2003
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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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