Keep It True

Majesty have never done much for me personally, but they have released one or two solid albums of standard Manowar-esque power metal tailor-made for the live arena. Their earliest releases get away with more of these shortcomings, feeling less conceptually bloated and more to the point. Keep It True was the band's first full-length after a few years of irrelevance, and those facts considered, it isn't half bad. The songs are boiled down to the barest of ingredients, even more so than the later albums, delivering an ardent musical expression that demands horn raising and minimal neck jerking. Many of these tracks summon a competent epic vibe, especially considering how little they are working with, but the end result isn't really one worth making a fuss over, be it positive or negative.

Maghary sounds a fraction rough around the edges vocally, but his throaty tenor is largely present and accounted for here. He doesn't overextend himself in regards to range, and stays within a comfortably throaty mid-range croon. He attempts a more tender, emotive inflection on "Strong as Steel," alternated with awkward sounding German. Expecting a landfill of burly rhythmic punishment on par with other German heavy metal titans is certainly a misnomer in this context, as the riffs are muffled and buried in the mix for some reason. Leads are frugal and work well with what they are given, but the entire affair feels extremely understated and sluggish. The narcissistic "Hail to Majesty" is a good example, feeling like it is wading through hip-deep mud, with verses that cyclically drone on and vocals that sound completely disinterested. Even the gang shouts on the title track sound lazy and tired. The weak production values certainly don't help, but that can't take all of the blame.

For the most part, Keep It True displays Majesty as we know them, complete with the most generic track titles ever, although with only three references to metal/steel/iron in the track titles. The best song of the bunch has to be "Son of Metal," as the vocal melodies sound more engaging and spirited, and the sound just feels like it has more of a fire lit under its ass. The opaque, soulless production is probably the biggest strike against the record, as it saps the endearing live feel the music could have still had if it wasn't excessively polished. With only eight tracks it feels about on par with the band's later releases, so Keep It True is Majesty as we know and love (or hate) them, take it or leave it. To be frank, it feels more like a demo hastily repackaged as a debut than anything else, and the lack of repressings over the years seem to speak to this as fact. Standard and fairly boring, just like most of Majesty's material.