Into the Glorious Battle

The passage of time often brings about the occasion of reflection, where even the most rudimentary of details take on a degree of depth that originally escaped notice. For Cryonic Temple, one of the more conservative yet spellbinding bands to emerge from the turn of the millennium power metal revival, the passage of 9 years and their present return from what was all but the band's demise arguably reinvents the very idea of introspection. Their name suggests a union of the idea of being frozen in time (for purposes of preservation of life) with a place of worship, and for their formative years, their worship-like emulation of Iron Maiden and Helloween put them deep in throwback territory among the likes of Hammerfall and early Iron Fire, so much that it seemed that they missed their true calling as a member of the original 1980s metal scene. Somewhere in the latter part of the 2000s, which saw the parallel descent of a number of bands of the original scene into stylistic confusion, this band was caught up by the same groovy, modernized stagnation that befell the likes of Steel Attack and Elvenking and seemingly disappeared from the scene with the lackluster Immortal as their last present to a changing world, as if their cryogenic freezers had been sabotaged and their music was lost to the void of space.

But time is a curious puzzle, and as if rather than being lost to space, a single freezer remained intact and emerging from a long sleep, the last of a group of heroes has found himself in a new time, returning from space with a new collective of compatriots to bring back the old ways with a few new twists. That is the basic story of how Esa Ahonen reformed Cryonic Temple and brought about Into The Glorious Battle, a worthy of achievement relative to this band's older work, though with perhaps some overly lofty metaphors from this fan boy reviewer. A towering concept album clocking in at over an hour, a first for this band on both fronts, it presents a return to that winning blend of fast paced Helloween speed with a conservative stylistic inclination that reminisces on the faster side of the NWOBHM, but reinterpreted in more of a spacey, bordering on progressive atmosphere. Much of this owes to the much smoother and crooning vocal character of Mattias Lilja, who admittedly listens much closer to a cleaner cut Goran Edman than the bombastic, Bruce Dickinson meets Harry Conklin wails of Glen Metal. By the same token, while keyboards have always played a consistent role in this band's earlier sound, they are far more prominent in the mix, and combined with a greater level of acoustic and clean guitar driven content, not to mention out-of-character forays into ballad territory, this album comes off more like the evolutionary route that should have been taken after In Thy Power, rather than an outright throwback to what was heard during said album and before.

At first glance, this album comes off as something of an expanded version of the format that was adopted on Blood, Guts and Glory, starting off with the obligatory instrumental intro before delving into a series of mostly moderate length songs. However, the dense character of "The Beginning Of A New Era" is a bit more than a typical Helloween-inspired prelude, containing a rather melancholy flute theme and a heavy atmosphere more reminiscent of a symphonic band. Things take on a somewhat more typical character when "Man Of A Thousand Faces" kicks in, featuring an Iron Maiden inspired subdued intro followed by the afterburners kicking in at full throttle, but the format is a bit more elaborate and the atmosphere is still much denser and gets close to a Sonata Arctica vibe at times. It's still a guitar driven affair with flashy solos and several prominent melodic themes channeling Helloween, but one can't help but hear a bit of Winterheart's Guild alongside the Powerslave and Keeper Of The Seven Keys elements. There are similar yet more streamlined rehashes of this fast, nimble and generally lighter approach to anthem-based fanfare in "Into The Glory Battle" and "Flying Over The Snowy Fields", whereas "All The Kingsmen" trades more of a heavier groove during the verses before shooting into that signature burst of melodic speed during the chorus. Truth be told, most of this album carries a strong degree of stylistic consistency, as often the velocity of the riff and drum work is the chief point of contrast between the aforementioned songs and the Maiden-oriented gallop fest "Can't Stop The Heat" and the more mid-paced nod to Power Quest oriented triumph "Prepare For War".

Naturally there are some areas where this album takes a few needed left-turns into different territory, though the places that it ends up going during these moments is definitely brand new for this band. There is a recurring spoken part that is somewhat reminiscent of the one employed on the earlier works of fellow LMP alumni Rhapsody Of Fire that finds itself in many of these songs, particularly the ballads, and even gets its own track over a short stream of synthesized orchestral music in "The Speech". Likewise, there is a one-off stylistic interlude into a merger of Judas Priest styled speed and Rainbow/Deep Purple oriented rocking in "Mean Streak" that comes out of left field, yet somehow manages to fit in with the rest of the more elaborate cruisers. The ballad content on this album is a bit larger than usual for a power metal album, with 3 songs settling things down a bit after a few forays into warp speed. "This War Is Useless (Eulogy)" is the only place where this album suffers a bit of stagnation as an attempt at a military-styled anthem of defeatism struggles to truly hit that melodic sweet spot of a hook to tie everything together. On the other hand, both "Heroes Of The Day" and "Freedom" do a far better job of articulating that needed somberness and poignancy that goes along with warriors reflecting upon both the triumph and sacrifice that goes into their situation, with the latter providing a worthy conclusion to this album despite being consistently down tempo and nearly 8 minutes long.

This album manages to avoid the two common traps of a comeback, namely playing it too safe or being too risky and putting out something entirely unrecognizable to their core audience. It will naturally not please everyone, and it may well be a justifiable to dislike it on the grounds that it isn't the same band that really lit it up back in the early to mid 2000s, but it is definitely not one that I find myself sharing. It isn't really new territory for the power metal genre, but it is very much current in its outlook and provides a fresh perspective. It is still recognizable as a Cryonic Temple album (something that could not be said for "Immortal"), largely because the pilot of this ship is still at the helm (Esa Ahonen), though he has definitely allowed for the input of the other band members to help chart the course. It offers a good example to a number of wayward bands of the old guard on how to reemerge without retreading the past, but more than anything else, it is an all around solid mixture of melody and speed that reminds us all of why both the original 80s scene and the revival were a good time in metal's impressive and growing history.

It's been an enormous nine years since Cryonic Temple gave us their previous outing: 2008's oft-maligned, but in this reviewer's humble opinion underrated, Immortal. What an ironic title that turned out to be! With a hiatus as large as this, they almost rival America's Cellador - whose fantastic new album Off The Grid closed a colossal eleven year gap. It's a good job I mentioned them actually, as many comparisons to the Colorado quintet could be made. Cryonic Temple's reputation, for the majority of their career, was of a power metal band who spread the usual fare of knights, swords, dragons and the glory of heavy metal. Considering their brand new LP is entitled Into The Glorious Battle and includes songs called "Mighty Eagle" and "Flying Over Snowy Fields" - us fans would expect more of the same, as if the metaphorical blemish of Immortal had been wiped from memory. However, while this album serves as a revival of sorts, it is definitely not the majestic return to the days of yore that many fans yearn for...and maybe that's the point.

The two major issues that plague Into The Glorious Battle are the production and the vocals - sometimes a combination of the two. I won't join the hordes who believe Cryonic Temple is nothing without Glen Metal, and neither will I disparage the talents of Magnus Thurin; however, newcomer Mattias's voice is irritably smooth - a bit like Cellador, but with less vibrancy. Also, low though it may be to accuse a singer of this, there are occasionally hints of auto-tuning, which always unnerves me. The production is very digital, and everything sounds shiny and clean, but there's no sense of authenticity. Have a listen to the opener "Man Of A Thousand Faces". Despite the fact that it's not a great way to commence an album from a songwriting standpoint, the cymbals are wildly misplaced - almost as if they're using an electronic kit - and the keyboards are constantly peaking in the background. Despite the fact that everything is tuneful and melodic, it's simply not a pleasant overall tone for a power metal band.

I'm glad Cryonic Temple felt that a nine-year interval warranted substantial quantity. As a result, Into The Glorious Battle is an hour long, with plenty of variation and moments of interest to sink our teeth into. However, maybe the flabby ballads could have been trimmed slightly. Whilst "The War Is Useless" is genuinely heartfelt and moving, "Heroes Of The Day" and the annoyingly dull "Freedom" should have been left on the cutting room floor, making the album more concise. The upbeat "Flying Over Snowy Fields" and "All The Kingsmen" fly the flag for that classic euro-power sound - as does the semi-title track, despite the odd melodies; the short, sharp rocker "Mean Streak" is also a highlight for picking up the energy where it dragged most; and both "Mighty Eagle" and "Prepare For War" are the mid-paced anthems this record needed. I cannot praise the guitar duo of Markus Grundström and Esa Ahonen enough. When the leads take charge, a driving riff chugs along, or an extended solo section kicks off - the album feels in safe hands; and this applies to every track.

For die-hards of the era between '02 and '05, this is almost unidentifiable as a Cryonic Temple release. What the Swedes have done is renewed themselves with a more polished, contained and electronic sound; a sci-fi theme (exemplified by the great artwork); and a vibe that reeks of US power metal, rather than European. Those hoping for rousing anthems of triumph such as "Eternal Flames Of Metal" will be sorely disappointed - but the hymnal melodies of this album are sure to please at least the majority of that ilk, whilst undoubtedly garnering attention from a younger audience in the process. Overall, Into The Glorious Battle is initially off-putting due to its shimmering, digital approach - but already has me returning time and time again due to the addictive qualities of certain tracks. Approach with optimistic caution.