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King of Rome is the debut album from US based power metal act Judicator. Judicator is a project between the duo of vocalist John Yelland (Disforia, ex-Shadowseer) and instrumentalist Tony C. (Project: Roenwolfe, Sedulity, Vermiform et al). King of Rome is a concept album centred on Napoleon Bonaparte. The album was released for free in 2012.
Stylistically Judicator draws extensively on the harder hitting typically German take on power metal from a time where the genre was still quite connected to its speed metal roots. Think Blind Guardian circa Tales from the Twilight World and you’ll be on the right track for the sort of riffs Tony C. is playing on this album. To give further weight to the comparison Judicator covers Blind Guardian’s Tommyknockers as a bonus track which originally appeared on the aforementioned album. We’re talking strictly guitar driven power metal with Judicator in other words.
While it’s hard not to think King of Rome is something of a Blind Guardian/early power metal worship session for the duo, unlike say Savage Circus, who sound like Blind Guardian both musically and vocally, in John Yelland Judicator have a great singer, who doesn’t sound like Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch, which sets them apart. The band has also produced an album with a modern flair to it by including some death growling. The growling is performed by guest vocalist Bryan Edwards, whom power metal fans may be familiar with as the original vocalist of Seven Kingdoms. He’s also in the death metal band Vermiform with Judicator’s Tony C. His contributions are not overdone but used to give certain sections a bit of extra punch where required, possibly to tie in with the concept but don’t quote me on that belief since my attention was more focused on talking in the music than following the plot of the lyrics.
Judicator has shown that they clearly know what they’re doing when it comes to power metal. Riff driven power metal like this has always been the best kind of power metal for me. There’s none of the so called cheesy stuff to be found here, just killer riffs, great vocals, and overall very good songs. The album doesn’t ascend to being more than a solid example of the genre for me, with the best tracks being Rising Again, Into the Sea of Bayonets, and the 12:20 minute closing epic Elan. I have to say though that the bonus track cover of Tommyknockers left me with some mixed feelings, but at the end of the day only Blind Guardian can do Blind Guardian the way it should be, so I’m not so bothered if I don’t enjoy this cover so much, especially when Judicator’s own material is very satisfactory. A great album tier rating is deserved.
81/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))