adg211288 Journey into Madness (2013) is the debut full-length album by Swedish metal act Mad Architect. The group, which is fronted by noted vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw, previously released an EP called Dreamworld (2012). The rest of the line-up is made up of mostly unknowns within the metal scene but does also have Sven Lindsten from 80’s heavy metal/hard rock act Trans Am behind the drum kit.

The exact genre that Journey into Madness falls into is difficult to pin down. The term ‘dark power metal’ has been circulating but the album certainly isn’t what you’d normally expect to hear from a power metal release. The ‘dark’ bit is quite accurate in a sense because this certainly isn’t the cheesy over the top style of European power metal that most will associate with the genre, but neither is it hard-hitting USPM. Instead it’s quite laid back a lot of the time and atmospheric in nature, featuring synths in a non-symphonic way. The music isn’t as speed obsessed as traditional Euro style power metal although the technique of the riffs is generally there, and it’s certainly melodic but in a different way to the norm. The vocals, while mostly clean, also veer into growls several times across the record, which give the record an occasional blackened edge although musically black metal isn't a territory that Mad Architect explores. Snowy Shaw is certainly the perfect fit as a vocalist for the music here. His clean singing has an eerie quality to it that goes especially well with the synth backed riffs. I definitely prefer the term atmospheric power metal to dark power metal. I guess gothic power metal would work as well.

Journey into Madness certainly had that unique touch, but during the album I've left feeling that although it's very good it's missing the high marks. It's a relatively short album consisting of only six actual songs along with an introduction and an interlude, both of which are short instrumentals that clock only just over two minutes of the total running time between them. That total does not even hit a full forty minutes. The CD version however has a bonus track, Altered States, which adds a whopping 9:20 to the duration.

Out of the six songs the quality is more or less consistent but Sailing Away and Strange Machine are the ones that really stand out from the rest. Floating, in contrast, would represent the lesser side of the album, perhaps due to the fact that this one represents the ballad of the album, fully focusing on the band's atmospheric elements, and it feels as if there's something missing from it. I have to also give a special mention to Universal Law though, as at just over eight minutes it's the most ambitious of the tracks on offer with both power and heavy metal style riffs wrapped up in Mad Architect's atmospheric backing, and even some doom-like sections where it sounds like the heaviness of the guitars is about to crush you.

I've written this review and am happy that I've given an accurate report on the quality of the album but I have to be honest, in terms of the ingredients that went into the sound to make Journey into Madness I'm in many ways still none the wiser. I think it's clear that deep down power metal is the driving force but it's not a type of power metal I've encountered before and as such is easily misidentified, and there's little bits and pieces of a lot of other stuff going into this one. Trad, black, gothic, doom, even a bit of prog if you listen closely enough. It certainly doesn't play by the rules of any recognised genre. That is of course a good thing and the end result is a great debut album from Mad Architect, but they need to up their game to enter the big league.

80/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/mad-architect-journey-into-madness-t3080.html)