PERSUADER — The Fiction Maze (review)

PERSUADER — The Fiction Maze album cover

Album · 2014 · Power Metal

4/5 · 2013-12-13
adg211288

Persuader...now here’s a name from the power metal genre that I haven’t heard for some time and indeed had begun to wonder if I’d ever hear again. For those of you who haven’t heard this Swedish band before this may be the reason why; it’s been many years since they last released an album, 2006 in fact with When Eden Burns. The Fiction Maze (2014) is their fourth full-length album, released eight years later (Japan will get it slightly earlier at the tail end of 2013) and against all expectations it seems to pick up exactly where its predecessor left off, featuring the same line-up and the sound that made records such as When Eden Burns and Evolution Purgatory (2004) such killer power metal efforts.

Persuader takes their cues from the Blind Guardian school of power metal. That is to say although they belong to the European, melodic side of the genre, theirs is a guitar driven and aggressive sound. Their aggressive nature is heightened both by their use of thrash metal elements and the odd vocal line delivered with a growl rather than frontman Jens Carlsson’s usual clean, powerful singing. Jen’s tone bears more than a passing similarity to Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch, further making the comparisons between the two bands valid. Persuader have their differences but it’s clear who their music will appeal to, and compared to newer Blind Guardian efforts they’re much intense in the riff department, and prefer to the point power metal songs opposed to the multiple influences that crept into Blind Guardian’s most recent release At the Edge of Time (2010). In other words Persuader focus on kicking arse in the way only a riff driven metal band like them can.

While some might argue that a band who has been away this long should have developed their sound somewhat I would be one to argue against that in this case. Persuader play European power metal at its aggressive end the way it should be played and honestly why mess with a winning formula? The Fiction Maze is proof that you don’t need to, sounding not only as strong as Persuader ever were but almost as if they’d never been away in the first place. This is about as triumphant return as it’s possible to have and the band make that clear right from the get-go with killer opening track One Lifetime. Did they play it safe? Yeah, it definitely sounds that way but it also sounds like a band who knows that they are good at what they do.

The album continues to be high quality from start to finish. Persuader certainly stand for a full throttle approach to power metal. You'll find none of the balladry that the majority of power metal bands insist on having here, and it's all the better release for it. That's not to say Persuader completely shies away from the mellow side of things; both the title track and Deep in the Dark feature some nice acoustic playing, but neither lacks for the power of the full on intensity of tracks like InSect.

Despite the heavier edge Persuader never fails to also be melodic and have catchy songs. If all power metal sounded like this, people would never had started using the term 'cheesy' in relation to the genre. I'm glad they're back because they have, most definitely, been missed. This time, hopefully, they're here to stay.