The Jester Race

I've seen power metal and trad doom that sounds harsher than this, wtf Stromblad? "Man with 6 uncles and 6 brothers" sounds darker and more varied than this (SSOASS by Iron Maiden if you don't get the joke).

There is so much hype regarding this album, and it is the most well received Gothenburg trio album after TRITSIO, but after listening to this, I honestly wondered if these people have actual functioning ears. This is one of those albums that are not just unfairly put on a pedestal where it is not even remotely deserving of it, but also misleading.

This album is very overloaded with harmonies, to the point where it sounds very inoffensive for a melodic death metal album. And not just that, it also deceives the listener with its first track "Moonshield'' that promises greatness, only to utterly let down by its mediocrity of the rest of the album. The rest of the album has this poppy, bright riffing that does not belong in a melodic death metal album, it's like Stromblad was trying to sell out to the corporate overlords in making a hit (well, they did it, so mission accomplished?). Honestly if you remove the vocals, this album becomes inoffensive radio rock that hits the listeners with hook after hook without any breathing room, as if fearing that if they put something that is not a hook, the listener will tune off and switch channels. As a result every song here besides Moonshield has a predictable structure that utilizes the dreaded verse-chorus structure (except Wayfarer and The Jester's Dance, but they still sounds too poppy and bright without anything to offset it), but it's even more exacerbated compared to Slaughter of the Soul due to how everything is mid-tempo, and never tries to go faster.

The instrumentation is pretty boring too, plagued by a really bad rhythm guitar that accompanies an honestly really good lead guitar (at least Stromblad is good at something), and as a result it further removes the album's sound from "melodic death metal". The drums aren't even death metal material too, the fills and rolls are simple, no blast beats, no intricate drum patterns, it's almost like the drums are done by a drum machine set up by someone who never knew what thrash metal drumming sounds like, much less death metal. At least the bass is audible, and surprising considering that this was released under Nuclear Blast who likes to turn every album released under them as soulless as possible, just like the rest of the instruments.

For the production, it's very sterile outside of the bass, similar to most melodeath under Nuclear Blast, everything is tuned to be as inoffensive as possible while cutting out every bit of harshness that comes with being a melodic death metal album. The vocals also got shafted too, with the growls being pretty buried under the instruments, but still audible if you pay attention. It's like every second of the production process made sure to make the lead guitar as prominent as possible at the cost of the rest of the band, like a shred album, if the shredder is utterly shit at shredding.

This album is very overrated and frankly does not deserve the hype behind it, just avoid this album, there are better ones out there even before this album, Heartwork for example.

I feel like I have to be extra strict because of how hyped/overrated this is and therefore making listeners subject themselves to unrealistic expectations.

Highlight: Moonshield, avoid the rest of the album