Jeanne d'Arc

So, the Italian sextet of Thy Majestie keeps on re-visiting historic epic battles with its melodic and slightly bombastic power metal. Thus after the battle of Hastings it’s time of the Hundred Years War with a concept album all about the French heroin Jeanne d’Arc or, in short, how the band replaced the knight slaying the dragons of most PM acts by the Maiden slaying the English – what is far funnier, isn’t it?

Joke aside, if lyrics taking their roots into History are an undeniable strength of the Italian band, their music isn’t at first listen remarkable for its originality. Actually, it isn’t more at second or third listen. During one hour you may go through raging battles, the crowning of the French king, Jeannne’s trial and her final death on the stake, but you won’t make much difference between each episode as everything is lead by fast-paced power metal, omnipresent keyboards and backing orchestrations (this isn’t surprising considering keyboardist Giuseppe Bondi is the one and only composer), and high-pitched vocals. But eventually one still manages to lend an attentive ear to it, why?

The answer could be there is no weak track on this release. Of course, there’s no excellent, distinctive track either, and long songs (there are two of them clocking at more than eight minutes) could as well be made of two short songs merged together, there would be little difference. Needless to say there are also some useless orchestral transitions (seriously, did you really think there would be none of them?) but they’re a minor detail. Then, the semi-ballad Time to Die and its false look of military march may sound a bit different, while avoiding the danger of excessive cheesiness, what makes it one of the most sympathetic songs here. In fact, you could listen to each track separately you’ll probably find some charm to it. Only the total combination is a tad hard to digest.

The musicians’ play is actually keeping this album above a certain level in spite of its linearity. True, all six are equally good. The singer is both powerful and sober, avoiding any annoying tremolos or other excesses which often plague the genre, guitarists play quite fluidly and often deliver surprising solos while, coming to the drummer, his most distinctive feature is the non-abuse of double bass. The keyboards case is dodgier. Thy Majestie plays orchestral power metal, what means there truly are TONS of them. The intro of most songs especially consists in around one minute of programmed orchestrations, even if they become more discrete once the core of the track is reached. Giuseppe Bondi isn’t also bothered with playing occasional keyboards solos in the vein of the master of the genre, let’s introduce Mr Jens Johansson. Well, orchestrations eventually aren’t a real problem on this album, as there is actual, quality metal behind. Let’s just admit it punctually makes the music unnecessarily pompous, listen to The Chosen and you’ll see what I mean.

So, is there a Thy Majestie STYLE? In fact, not really. They’re a solid, and maybe unjustifiably overlooked, PM act. Their historical concept albums are undoubtedly a distinctive feature, but aren’t enough to make them a unique band. They aren’t another Stratovarius clone, they haven’t fallen into mindless orchestral grandiloquence like their fellow-countrymen of Rhapsody, they aren’t a bunch of buffoons on crack like Dragonforce, nor the ridicule megalomaniac pop stars Edguy have become now, but, if it’s easy to tell what they AREN’T, I’ve some trouble finding what they indeed ARE.

Highlights: Maiden of Steel, Siege of Paris, Time to Die