We need to be clear about thing before we get into this review for Opeth's fourteenth studio album The Last Will and Testament: Opeth isn't 'back' just because this album marks their return to the extreme progressive metal sounds of yesteryear. They never went away, and have produced a string of progressive rock based albums (the most recent two reintroducing metal ideas in a different manner) that proved that Mikael Åkerfeldt doesn't need to growl in order for Opeth to be Opeth. As a band, they are so much more than that. I for one was quite content with the direction they were going in. No band should be forced to make music they're not feeling just because the fans expect it.

With that said, it's also very difficult to not, after the sixteen years since Mikael last growled on an Opeth studio album (which was 2008's Watershed), not to be excited by the idea of a new Opeth album in their 'classic' style. The burning question is, of course, if The Last Will and Testament does that?

Well yes, it does, and more besides. The album's sound is like a coming together of the old and new, with plenty of different elements being thrown into what is once again a more extreme metal based sound. There's symphonic progressive rock elements which, for my money, appear the most extensively since Opeth's 2014 Pale Communion album. It also verges into more experimental/avant-garde territory and makes use of a bit of flute courtesy of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, so also provides some spoken word vocals. Spoken word is music is rather hit and miss for me, but this technique works on The Last Will and Testament by virtue of not being overdone. The album also contains more minor genre references including classical music and jazz rock. It sounds like old Opeth, but new Opeth is in here too. This isn't a throwback album, it's the culmination of their career to date.

As their first concept album since 1999's Still Life, The Last Will and Testament is structured to reflect a will reading. Except for the final song, A Story Never Told, which serves as an epilogue of sorts, the tracks are not named except to be referred to as paragraphs one through seven (denoted by the § symbol). This has the small drawback of not having a clear reference point which to refer to the songs by, but the songs are able to quickly assert themselves apart from each other all the same. Most make use of Åkerfeldt's growling vocals, except for §3 and A Story Never Told. The former is still a metal song but the later is the album's only full progressive rock song. This means that the growls are being used more than on Opeth's last extreme album Watershed which only had them in three out of seven songs. Compared to older Opeth though they've avoided any single songs that cross the ten minute barrier, going for more median lengths between five and seven-odd minutes.

All in all I think The Last Will and Testament is an excellent Opeth album. As a still new record I can't really say how I will feel about it in relation to their other albums a year or two from now, but as an extreme progressive metal album it sits in good company with their earlier work especially the period of Still Life through to Watershed, while also not ignoring that the prog rock era Opeth happened. I don't think this was an album made under fan pressure to go back to their more popular sound, more like Mikael Åkerfeldt began to feel this sort of music again, especially to tie into a concept record. It really is anyone's guess whether this will mark a permanent return to the style, but I don't think it matters either way. Opeth is a band with nothing to prove; they will do what they want and don't have to stick to a ridged style. That is, ultimately, what makes them an exciting band. I wouldn't rule out future observations sounding like either or of their distinct eras, or perhaps something new entirely.

The US death metal act Blood Incantation has already established themselves as a major act of their genre. It was apparent, I think, from at least as early as their debut album Starspawn (2016) but really asserted on Hidden History of the Human Race (2019). They played progressive death metal but without over reliance on the technical death metal sub-genre. Absolute Elsewhere (2024) is their third studio album and although they've left it so long between their primary records Blood Incantation has been far from idle and in the intervening years has taken the time to explore other avenues of music, most notably space ambient on the EP (which is actually album length and was until Absolute Elsewhere actually their longest release) Timewave Zero (2022). They then released the maxi-single Luminescent Bridge (2023) which saw them combining elements from both their progressive death metal and ambient work. Luminescent Bridge's two songs are included on the deluxe edition of Absolute Elsewhere as a bonus disc as is a second completely ambient release not currently available elsewhere calls All Gates Open.

Absolute Elsewhere is a very different beast to either of the previous Blood Incantation studio albums and if you haven't been paying attention to what they've been doing since Hidden History of the Human Race, it may come as a surprise but if you have been you will know that Blood Incantation isn't content to be a one trick pony. This album features just two songs (broken up into three tracks each and branded as Tablets by the band) which see them combining all different kinds of music into their sound. Expect lots of shifts between their cavernous death metal sound and lighter music, including synth driven stuff which also included a guest spot for Thorsten Quaeschning, the current band leader of Berlin School giants Tangerine Dream. As an album Absolute Elsewhere owes as much to Pink Floyd as it does Morbid Angel. Both the songs or suites, if you prefer, cross the twenty minute border.

It is simply one of those albums where there are so many intricacies present that coming back to it for more time after time again reveals more and more about it. I'm already on my twelfth listen as of putting this review together. While it may need saying that they might be now too far gone for the more purist of death metal fans, for whom these continual let-ups in the intensity may serve as unnecessary distraction, I don't feel that Blood Incantation has moved into the world better described as extreme progressive metal as inhabited by Opeth or Ihsahn: they leave no doubt over their death metal allegiances when they're really giving it welly. This is death metal, just enhanced into a cosmic experience, taking you through stargates to deliver it's message. I am floored by it.

For me, Blood Incantation just released in Absolute Elsewhere not only their best album yet, but also one of the most outright interesting death metal albums to be released for a long time. It is the album that sets the standard for the rest of the year that other bands are going to have to better if they are to dethrone it from being my top album of 2024.

For my money Italy's Frozen Crown number among the best power metal bands to have made their debut within the last ten years. They do not necessarily break the mould but then, it's power metal. There are certain expectations that need to be delivered if a band is going to be considered a really good power metal act: speed, melody, great vocals and infectious songs. Frozen Crown has that in spades and this time with their fifth studio album War Hearts (2024) they're following suit with the modern Iron Maiden line-up and coming at us with a triple guitarist attack.

That probably means more in the live environment than it does in the studio, but the addition of Alessia Lanzone is another skilled and talented musician in the Frozen Crown family and we've already seen the trio in action in the music videos made to promote War Hearts (Steel and Gold was the first released song, followed by the title track) and that's enough to show that a three guitarist line-up is not overkill.

The rest of the band's line-up remains unchanged from that of Call of the North (2023): Giada "Jade" Etro (vocals), Federico Mondelli (guitars, vocals), Fabiola Bellomo (guitars), Francesco Zof (bass) and Niso Tomasini (drums).

Opening with the two singles, Frozen Crown more or less sticks to a formula aside from a shorter penultimate instrumental leading into the album's sole longer and closing track Ice Dragon. I cannot say that the ten track album throws much in the way of surprise if one is familiar with Frozen Crown already, or even just with power metal music. In the past the band has experimented a bit with using some extremer elements but those are absent on War Hearts and in fact secondary vocalist Federico Mondelli doesn't really sing all that much at all but that's perhaps hardly surprising when they have Giada Etro as their main vocalist. Frozen Crown's musicianship is superb, but for me Etro is the band's biggest draw. It is the singer that can make or break a power metal band. You can hear that Frozen Crown knows how good of a singer they have in Giada.

Frozen Crown's discography so far has been a solidly consistent one and War Hearts is not going to be the album that bucks that trend, which is actually a double-edged sword because while it's another excellent power metal album featuring all those hallmark elements I mentioned earlier, I also can't fairly say that it's the Frozen Crown album that really takes their music to the next level – although perhaps the most outright disappointing thing about it is that it's their shortest studio album to date, being over ten minutes shorter than Call of the North despite having the same amount of tracks. But I meant what I said about them being among the best modern power metal bands – they are. They just haven't, for me at least, yet released an album I'd feel comfortable giving a 5 star score to.

But a fifth 4.5 in a row is hardly anything to be sniffed at. And they're going to get there to the top tier sooner rather than later, I think. They have the musicianship, the excellent singer and they have the power metal sound down to a tee. If anything what's held me back with how I score their work is that they may actually be too polished even for a power metal band. It's taken the edge off the raw energy that this kind of music is capable of having. It's the difference, I think, between a power metal album that power metal fans like me are going to lap up and a power metal album that can make those less enthusiastic about the genre pay attention.

You Can't Improve Perfection...

...But You Can Do It Justice.

Blind Guardian re-recording Somewhere Far Beyond, one of their best and most beloved of albums that was originally released in 1992, has to be one of, if not THE most pointless of exercises that any metal band could set-out to undertake. The original album already has a remastered version done in 2007 and it still sounds as good as it ever did in 2024.

I get that the Revisited version of Somewhere Far Beyond is to be treated as something of a (slightly belated) 30th anniversary celebration but that is perhaps something better celebrated with the accompanying live version that is a full performance of the album. That has been released separately as a digital download otherwise it is found on disc in the boxset version along with a blu-ray of the same performance (Rock Hard Festival 2022) and one other (Hellfest Festival 2022). But there feels little reason to buy the Revisited album itself if you already own a copy of Somewhere Far Beyond. The original is power metal perfection. A new version just cannot compare.

But at the end of the day it is still Somewhere Far Beyond, one of the greatest power metal albums anyone ever made and giving it anything less than the full five stars would be mean-spirited. It's actually a cracking performance from a band who are more than three decades older and a couple of line-up changes down the line. They do it justice. There is a moment here and there where the ears pick up and something doesn't feel quite right but a lot of the time it can be forgotten that you're listening to a re-recording. The heaviness of the original hasn't been sacrificed. The production hasn't been too over polished in a modern way. Hansi Kürsch still sounds absolutely incredible, but hey, we knew that from their continued work including their last album The God Machine.

Is it worth owning? If for some reason you can't get your hands on a copy of the original album then absolutely. Definitely if you want the live stuff on disc and not just a download and doubly so if you want the blu-ray, which I think has to surely be the biggest draw the more expensive triple disc package. But I can't lie, I can't see myself personally choosing to listen to it over the original. Somewhere Far Beyond is one of my most played albums of all time. It ranks second on my Last.fm account where Blind Guardian is my most played band overall. To start listening to a new version more than it now would almost feel like some sort of betrayal. Not that Blind Guardian has betrayed their legacy by remaking it, but on a very personal level, for me, it would feel that way. Maybe other fans will get what I mean.

A Unique Experience

Covid-19 and the world going into lockdown to combat the spread of the virus looked to have sounded the death knell for live music, but modern technology allowed artists to connect with audiences remotely and many bands put on shows with no live audience in attendance. Many have since seen physical and/or digital download releases as official live albums but many also are effectively little more than watching a band do a rehearsal or in-studio performance. Omega Alive by the Dutch symphonic metal act Epica is not such a release. This is a unique live experience, sans crowd, that perhaps couldn't have been pulled off any other way.

Released in support of their eighth main (ninth overall) studio album Omega (2021), Omega Alive naturally features a setlist that is dominated by tracks from that album, with seven out of fifteen tacks taken from it alongside choice cuts from the back catalogue including The Obsessive Devotion, Cry for the Moon and Kingdom of Heaven Part 1, which they play back to back with Kingdom of Heaven Part 3. There's no The Quantum Enigma – Kingdom of Heaven Part 2, sadly, but the the back to back performance of the bookends of the song trilogy are quite something as is. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the setlist is the inclusion of In All Conscience, a bonus track available on certain versions of The Quantum Enigma (2014) album that not every listener of Epica may have on their copy of that album.

But it's not just a great setlist that makes Omega Alive such a great live release, it's the entire spectacle. The concert is interlaced with pre-filmed inserts bringing a narrative to the show, which is presented in chapters. The set-up allows the band to have their stage rearranged between each segment (and lots of outfit changes for Simone Simons) while they bring on dancers, acrobats and other stunt performers (which Simone got in on the act a bit during The Obsessive Devotion by appearing to plummet off the back of the stage), pyro effects (including at one point appearing to literally set Coen Janssen's piano on fire while he keeps playing which looks a little too real for comfort). A live children's choir appears for The Skeleton Key while Simone performs Rivers with a host of guest choir singers in a haunting a capella version. They even make use of a sprinkler system which drenches and makes the band look like they're played in a monsoon. A bit cringe considering all the electric instruments being used actually.

But what really clenches it for Omega Alive is just how on form the band is. Coen Janseen is the unexpected show stealer with a manic performance complete with burning piano (I'm still unconvinced that wasn't real) but every band member is giving it their all and clearly having a blast despite the adversity of the world situation at the time. There is really not a fault to be had as Epica showcase different sides to themselves from their softest to their heaviest, most death metal influenced material via their most progressive epics.

Epica have come across as a special band to me ever since I first heard them through The Divine Conspiracy (2007) album and Omega Alive further cements their reputation as one of the best symphonic metal acts we have, one whom should really at this point be considered to have surpassed the bigger, more popular acts that paved the way in the genre. I think I'll be watching this captivating show again sooner rather than later.