Grand Materia

In some ways this could be considered a comeback album, although this is not really the case. You see, this is Morgana Lefay's first album since 1999, and the first to feature mainstays Charles Rytkönen and Tony Eriksson since 1996. However, after the band split in 1997, Rytkönen and Eriksson formed an offshoot known as Lefay (with the support of three musicians from Fantasmagoria). Their albums were far closer in sound and spirit to the Morgana Lefay albums of old than the 1999 self-titled Morgana Lefay album. "Morgana Lefay" featured a new singer and lead guitarist and sounded quite different; the band generally disregards it from their catalogue much like Pantera pretended that their first few albums never existed.

With the exception of bassist Fredrik Lundberg, the band that recorded "Grand Materia" is the same that recorded all three Lefay albums. However, one will notice that the sound is much heavier this time around. Thankfully, they do not use the heaviness as a crutch, instead using it to add another dynamic to their sound. Sure, the riffs are more thrashy in general (this is definitely a good thing), but this just accentuates the melodies that much more (see the harmonies after the solo in "My Funeral Is Calling" and the guitar solo in "Emotional Sanctuary").

The opening title track is probably the most similar to Morgana Lefay's older material, but "Hollow" is probably the most representative of the album as a whole. It is certainly heavy but builds-up nicely and the solos are strong. It's catchy yet fits in with the rest of the album. "I Roam" is short and to-the-point, but still kicks ass. This is probably the heaviest song on here, although it gets competition from the deliciously thrashy "The Edge," which has great intro riff-set, leading to an absolutely killer main riff. "My Funeral Is Calling" shows a more introspective (yet still undeniably heavy) side of the band. There are several haunting guitar melodies that only a band from Sweden could write.

Morgana Lefay have a certain style in writing their metal ballads where one can instantly recognize them, for better or for worse. Well this time, they managed to surpass anything that they've done before with "Only Endless Time Remains." They avoid cheesiness and write an memorable emotional song, with a killer solo, to boot. "Emotional Sanctuary" (pronounced here as 'Emotional Sanc-tury') also is highlighted by Rytkönen's emotional (no pun intended) vocal performance. The song does a fine job of serving the storyline without sacrificing quality.

Many bands these days are writing concept albums, and the majority of them are either uninteresting or else the quality of the song is set aside with a bunch of pointless interludes and other self-indulgent bullshit. The storyline on "Grand Materia," however, is excellent and fascinating as well. Without going into too much detail, the story tells of a man that discovers a way to make himself immortal. The album not only tells of what happens after he immortalizes himself, but also the mental and emotional aspects of the main character as he experiences and learns that perhaps immortality should be something out of the reach of man. The story is certainly helped by Charles Rytkönen (who wrote the concept); he gives the performance of a career, succeeding in screeching his lungs out when necessary, then switching to a more emotional mid-range as the story calls for it.

This is one of the few albums that I can listen to from start to finish (something that can be said for very few records). A whole myriad of ideas is successfully merged together with a strong story to create a pinnacle that most bands can only dream of. As strong as several of their previous albums have been, "Grand Materia" is Morgana Lefay's finest moment and is most certainly essential.

In days when traditional Heavy Metal is only considered heavy by those who aren’t familiar with the genre and the vast majority of all Power Metal bands isn’t all that powerful, it’s good that there are still bands like Morgana Lefay. Morgana Lefay proves that the evolution of Heavy Metal didn’t stop in the mid-eighties. In fact, I personally think Morgana Lefay is one of the very few bands that deserves the label “Heavy Metal” nowadays. Their brand of music is heavy, powerful and melodic, but it never sounds outdated, because the band dares to evolve with time. And ‘Grand Materia’ is the ultimate proof of what the Swedes are capable of.

‘Grand Materia’ marks the return to the name Morgana Lefay, after years of label problems which forced the band to continue under the name Lefay. And what a return it is! I have always felt that with the name change, the band slightly leaned their sound more towards standard Power Metal, but that’s not the case here. ‘Grand Materia’ is a concept album which shows the band on the border between Heavy, Power, Thrash and modern Metal, not unlike their earlier masterpiece ‘Maleficium’, just a lot better.

The album starts out in great fashion with the title track. If these rhythms don’t get your head banging, you probably have neck problems. Without sounding like an exact copy, the band seems to have shifted to a Nevermore-sound, the song is mid-tempo and slightly more modern than what the band has been up to thus far, but there is still plenty of melody to enjoy. And of course there is the great voice of Charles Rytkönen, who has often been compared to Savatage’s Jon Oliva. But seriously, I think that doesn’t do the greatness of Rytkönen – who is much more versatile and has a bigger range – any justice.

From the moment the album takes off, there is actually not one weak song. Not even one mediocre song, and that is quite rare in the current state of music. Of course, listeners will always have their preferences. Power Metalfans will probably be totally hooked on ‘The Operation Of The Sun’, a song which has one of the most awesome choruses ever recorded, modern Metalheads will find something of their liking in the Machine Head-ish riffing of ‘Emotional Sanctuary’ and ‘Blind’ and people who like more complex material will be delighted by the absorbing atmosphere of ‘My Funeral Is Calling’. ‘Only Endless Time Remains’ is a great ballad.

Like any listener, yours truly has his favorites as well. ‘Hollow’ is one of the best Metal songs I have ever heard in a long time. The structure of the song is absolutely killer, the beginning builds up to the amazing chorus perfectly and some sections enter quite surprisingly. It’s impossible to not sing along the backing vocals of guitarist Peter Grehn and bassist Fredrik Lundberg in the chorus and the rhythms hit you in the head like a hammer. An absolutely killer track, which was actually the track that got me into the band.

Cut from a more modern mold is the song ‘I Roam’. The guitar riffs are very rhythmical and the drums are heavily pounding. Soaring on top of that is Charles Rytkönen, who once again delivers a killler chorus. It’s actually incredible to see how Morgana Lefay can craft all these amazing choruses without turning cheesy for a single second. When it comes to that matter, ‘I Roam’ sums up the formula of Morgana Lefay quite well.

As a fan of Thrash Metal, ‘Edge Of Mind’ and ‘Angel’s Deceit’ are little gems for me as well. Both songs contain killer riffing, which is slightly faster than on the rest of the album. And although there is plenty of Thrash in the songs, the band never forgets to add melody to their sound. Both songs work toward their climaxes very well.

So there, the Swedes have done it once again. They have surpassed every other Power Metal band from Sweden (and the rest of Europe, really) with ‘Grand Materia’. In terms of songwriting, musicianship, vocals and general awesomeness, Morgana Lefay shows all the other bands how it’s done. ‘Grand Materia’ is – I will state that once again – the ultimate proof of that.