Evil Mind

When a style progresses over a period of several decades, it becomes easy to forget where it originally came from, and this holds true even for the more orthodox sub-genre of power metal. While many are wont to point to the later 1980s output of acts such as Scanner and Helloween as the gold standard of the style's roots, one would be positively remiss to forget the contributions of Manowar and a number of more traditional acts from further back in Accept, Judas Priest, and several others. This quandary for nerds like the author of this review whom obsess over such things is less of an issue due to a number of more traditional acts that have come and gone in the past 15 to 20 years, particularly out of Sweden, which have pointed to a clear line of succession from the early 1980s to the present. Some bands naturally stick closer to the original style a bit more than others, with Hammerfall being among the staunchest of traditionalists without morphing into an outright retro act, whereas some others take on a more moderated sense of traditionalism that keeps the original spirit but accepts some modern elements.

The more obscure Swedish act Cryonic, auspiciously similar in both name and sound to another act from the same nation in Cryonic Temple, is an example of this spiritually present metal traditionalism with a present day suit of armor. For the most part, they've adopted the power-infused character of Manowar while avoiding the long-winded, epic songwriting episodes that usually accompany one of their albums, and have infused more of a Helloween meets Stratovarius sense of melody and atmosphere. How this manifests is a bit sketchy, but suffice to say, take a rabidly traditional sounding metal vocalist with all the grit and attitude of Cryonic Temple's Glen Metal but a wider range of notes and vocal personalities, and place him in the midst of a riff happy barrage of guitars that are heavy enough for Manowar, but also nimble and tending towards a more consonant affect, a male backing chorus approach right out of the Hammerfall playbook and a keyboard backdrop that wouldn't be out of place on Stratovarius' Visions. It's a curious amalgamation of sounds, which completely compensates for the fact that the songwriting is extremely predictable and streamlined to the point of being pure radio fodder.

When stripping away the fairly unique stylistic exterior and breaking this album down, the name of this band's game is hooks, and everything is geared to that end. The first six songs all follow an extremely similar structure of mid to fast paced punchy metallic luster, with each second not spent in a celebratory chorus section pointing in that very direction. Things are generally distinguished by introductory material, with "Kings Of The Hill", "Coldblood" and "Prophecy" going right for the jugular with a powerful riff set, whereas this band's ode to swashbuckling warfare "Fireball", "Evil Mind" and "Promised Land" play a bit more of an atmospheric angle with greater keyboard and effects-steeped clean guitar sounds, with the latter having a not so subtle sample of Darth Vader's breathing sounds placed in for good measure. What is perhaps a bit curious is how vocalist Michael Löfqvist (aka Bigswede) adapts his voice to each lyrical subject, particularly how he pulls off a fairly convincing nod to Udo Dirkschneider on "Fireball". But all of these songs find themselves in a similar place once the chorus kicks in, which is a fast paced, sing-along festival as only this style can deliver.

The rest of the album sees a somewhat more varied picture with more of a Stratovarius tinge coming into play, particularly the spacey mid-paced cruiser "Call For Freedom" and the somber, piano driven ballad "Queen Of Sorrow", both of which could have be confused for Finland's well known melodic export with a different vocalist and flashier guitar solos. Special mention should also be made of "The Spirit", which sees the band almost getting into symphonic territory while still being in their niche. There is something truly captivating about the mixture of synthesized chimes, voices, orchestral percussion and ambient sounds that creates the perfect atmosphere for what ends up being a very convincing nod to how Hammerfall approaches a more down-tempo number. Things end up closing on a similar note to where the album started with "Warrior", which is arguably the simplest and most fanfare-leaning song out of an entire collection of songs that are similarly geared, though it does feature one of the more shred-happy keyboard vs. guitar lead breaks.

It's pretty easy to see why this album didn't make nearly as big of a splash as the ones that influenced it, given that 2007 was a year where progress tended to trump nostalgia in the power metal world. Then again, it was also a very conveniently timed album given that it came at around the time that Cryonic Temple self-destructed for anyone that was hoping for a worthy successor to In Thy Power, which this album could be treated as being, or maybe as a less heavy follow up to Nocturnal Rites' Grand Illusion. It is definitely power metal for people who already like power metal, it won't win over any fence-sitters, nor appeal to those who want something either more technical or otherwise more forward looking. But if one wants to know what Hammerfall and Stratovarius would sound like when merged together, Evil Mind is about as close as it gets.

These days Swedish power metal can sometimes be like an old pair of trainers. They've both perhaps seen better days, at first glance you'd think twice about going near them, but when you actually slip them on (or into the CD player?) you remember just how comfortable they actually are.

Ok, that was a rubbish metaphor. And we'll just ignore the logical alternative that an old pair of trainers can be horribly mouldy, crusty and detrimental to the health of the owner. But it gets the point across – every idea in this subgenre has been used God knows how many times, and there is a seemingly endless supply of 2nd rate bands queuing up to pick over them, but when a band get it right – even if the results aren't spectacular – it feels like visiting an old friend after a long time away.

Cryonic, who debut with 'Evil mind', are one such band. They do nothing their countrymen Hammerfall and Nocturnal Rites weren't doing when they helped get melodic power metal back on its feet 10 years ago, but they do it with enough confidence and charm that it doesn't matter.

Hammerfall indeed seem to be the greatest influence on their sound, with several highly familiar riffs making an appearance across the CD – the intro to "Riders on the storm" in particular seems like a popular one with the younger band. That being said, the music is uniformly solid, with only the mawkish ballad "Queen of sorrow" not pulling its weight compared to the others, and the lack of originality doesn't damage the enjoyment to be found on the CD's slender 39-minute playing time.

The tragically-nicknamed vocalist Bigswede has an interesting voice that brings to mind different vocalists on different songs. He doesn't always sound in full control of his voice on the verses, but tends to shine on the powerful selection of choruses the band have come up with, especially when he throws in some pretty unusual over-the-top 'howls'. It's a little hard to describe exactly how his voice sounds at these points, but suffice to say it is something that adds a little extra character and uniqueness to the band's generic sound. Examples of this occur unexpectedly during "Coldblood", ("no glory for me...") and as an icing on the cake during the superb chorus of the rampaging CD highlight, "Fireball".

Male backing choirs (again, Hammerfall) add a little bit of extra texture to the choruses, which, as you'd expect, are often the high points of the songs. The guitar playing is impressive as well though, with the soaring solos seeming to spring from nowhere among the basic riffing. A few unusual keyboard effects aside, the music is very straightforward and geared simply towards being memorable rather than daring or flashy, and the songs vary between atmospheric, midtempo anthems and clear-cut speed-fests.

In a time when the many of the late 90s generation of Swedish power metal bands are growing stale, and younger bands like Dragonland are intent on sounding 'experimental', others like Cryonic, their almost-namesakes Cryonic Temple, and Dreamland, those that still play heads-down, no nonsense guitar based power metal are always going to be welcome. Its all been done to death of course, but as a fan it's nice to be reminded from time to time why I fell in love with this music in the first place. I'm sure that I'm not alone in that sentiment.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)