Evil Is Forever

Astral Doors is a band that some laud for their Dio worshiping traits and others hate for the same reason. “Evil is Forever”, the sophomore effort from this Swedish group, takes the catchy and kinetic styling of their debut, “Of the Sun and the Father”, and adds a more traditionally inspired approach. The same dichotomy of every Astral Doors release still exists, though: some of the songs are scorching, fist pounding anthems while some songs seem uninspired and bland, at least instrumentally.

The opener, “Bride of Christ”, opens up the album with a big, powerful, loud, fast bang. The entire track is catchy, with fast paced, hook laden guitar lines backed by Deep Purple inspired keyboard lines that sound like a Hammond organ. The best part, like all things Astral Doors, is the vocal lines, courtesy of Dio disciple, Nils Patrik Johansson. The entire band seems to be on fire during this track. The drums are fast and galloping with plenty of fills and rolls, the guitars are chunky, yet with a nice amount of groove and the bass is thick and, while mostly following the guitar lines, stands out with a rolling line here and there. After “Bride of Christ” is over, Astral Doors continue the same thing for the entire album, with varying degrees of catchiness, speed and intensity. Tracks like “Pull the Brake” and “The Flame” bring the same intensity and groove of the opener, but Astral Doors fills in the gaps with plodding, middle of the road tracks.

Although I like the faster paced tracks on this album more than the mid-paced stompers, there’s no denying that Astral Doors create some catchy mid-paced tracks, reminiscent of classic acts like Rainbow, Deep Purple and, of course, Dio. These slower tracks retain a lot of the catchiness of the barn burners, but a little something is lacking, whether it’s the overuse of keyboards that saturate the entire album or the fact that the lead guitars are less convincing when played at slower speeds. The riffing is still full of hooks and pretty catchy, but the drums are less forceful and the bass seems to just plod along.

I mentioned before that this band seems to take the whole Dio thing to heart. This is mostly due to the vocal chords of Nils Patrik Johansson, who has a delivery eerily similar to RJD, albeit more nasally and slightly accented. If it wasn’t for the vocals, the slower and mid paced tracks would probably be a flop. There are catchy parts, but the vocals are what make them more than standard, mediocre traditional metal. The vocals are much more powerful and intense during the choruses. The vocals are good during the verses: not forced or tired, but they seem lackluster when compared to the forceful choruses.

Falling back in line with the Dio influence, Astral Doors have backed off the magic and sword imagery that was a little overblown on the debut, but they continue to pen lyrics that would make RJD proud. “Fear in Their Eyes” in particular would sit well as a B-side on “Dream Evil”. Everything here hearkens back to the glory days of metal: the days when Dio was breaking away from Black Sabbath and the days before Ritchie Blackmore became a medieval recluse. The constant bombardment of Hammond styled keyboard work gets old though, as there is no free airspace.

After a few spins, the mid paced tracks get stale and relatively bland, but the fast paced anthems like “Bride of Christ” and “Pull the Brake” never seem to get tiring. Maybe it’s because after most of the album retaining a mid-paced plodding, these faster tracks just seem to have more life and fire. “Evil is Forever” does not do anything revolutionary, but it rocks just enough to stay relevant. This won’t sway anyone who doesn’t like the style, but fans of classic traditional metal will find plenty to enjoy here.

Originally Written for The Metal Observer:
http://www.metal-observer.com/