MASQUERADE — Masquerade (review)

MASQUERADE — Masquerade album cover Album · 1992 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Stephen
In the dawn of 90s, a young Swedish band was signed under Zero Records and definitely raised the flag to challenge Norway's TNT. Not only they shared a similarity in their musical style, Tony Yoanson's soaring vocal is comparable to Tony Harnell and Thomas Eric's skillful guitar handling can match Ronni LeTekro's acrobatic play. What makes this record so special is right on the same year, TNT released "Realized Fantasies" which I think a bit different and missed something big that I found in their 80s releases, and Masquerade smartly closed that gap by bringing me back to the glorious harmonic era of TNT.

Songs like "Gimme All Your Love" is an explosive in-your-face melodic perfection with one of the catchiest hooks you ever heard. This is their best creation in my book, but other songs like the melodic metal gem of "Our Time Has Come", the breezy "Ride With The Wind", and the furious riffage with bombastic chorus of "Wild Child" are unbelievably awesome too. They also have some radio friendly midtempo ballads such as "Four Letter Words" and "Dancin' On The Edge" which I think are very good as well. "Give It A Shot" is another spectacular uptempo track which puts Eric's sensational solos at the spotlight. Perhaps only "Justice" is the worst track here, while some decent tunes such as "Sudden Love Affair" or "Dawning of The Day" although somehow passable, they aren't horrible at all.

You can enjoy a crisp and clean production and with an amazing set of high quality songs, not to mention the extra ordinary vocal and remarkable guitars, Masquerade is a superb catch for fans of melodic metal, guitar virtuoso, and TNT itself. I probably won't label this 5-stars because of the originality issue and some weak songs, but this album definitely deserved a solid 9.0 and remained their best release ever.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed