UMUR
"Thane to the Throne" is the fifth full-length studio album by US power/heavy metal act Jag Panzer. The album was released through Century Media Records in June 2000. It´s the successor to "The Age of Mastery" from September 1998 and features the same quintet lineup who recorded the predecessor.
Stylistically the material on "Thane to the Throne" is an epic and melodic type of US power/heavy metal. The music features many traditional heavy metal riffs and rhythms, loads of clever lead guitar work (both solos and harmonies), but also the occasional hard edged semi-thrashy riff. Lead vocalist Harry Conklin has a strong voice and a theatrical and passionate delivery. He can hit the hight notes but also sound relatively gruff when that is needed. In that respect Jag Panzer is the very definition of US power metal, although predominantly in the traditional heavy metal end of the spectrum rather the the harder edged thrash metal end.
"Thane to the Throne" is slightly different from the two direct predecessors, as they were both a little more straight and to the point US power/heavy metal, while "Thane to the Throne" is overall more epic in atmosphere and it´s also a concept release featuring the story of Shakespeare's "Macbeth". There´s a slight symphonic edge to some parts of the album, but it´s not to a degree where it overpowers the guitars, bass, drums, and vocal core of the band´s sound.
While the material is generally well written and appealing all the way through the 17 track, 64:43 minutes long album, the music style can be a little one-dimensional and a few more tempo changes and other details to make it easier to tell the tracks apart would have been greatly appreciated. Album closer "Tragedy of MacBeth" stands out the most as the first part of the track almost sounds like a 70s progressive rock song, and I had to check that it wasn´t a cover to be sure. Most of the other tracks on the album are less surprising if you´re familiar with Jag Panzer, and the listener is generally just exposed to some really solid US power/heavy metal packed in a powerful, detailed, and well sounding production. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
