Sweden's Grand Magus have stockpiled a pretty impressive discography since 2001, with albums such as Hammer in the North, Iron Will, Wolf's Return, and their debut self-titled especially being fantastic examples of doom laden, epic, traditional heavy metal. 2012's The Hunt showed the first signs of some lethargy settling in, a decent record but one that didn't quite live up to the standards of the previous releases. Triumph and Power, their latest platter for Nuclear Blast, kind of continues that trend; it's a solid, if unspectacular release. JB once again is the reason to listen to Grand Magus, his powerful vocals, beefy riffs & explosive solos in fine form as always throughout the album. Powerful songs like "On Hooves of Gold", "Fight", "Steel Versus Steel" and the title track all provide plenty of fist pumping, air-guitar moments, bringing to mind some of the best of bands such as Saxon, Manowar, Judas Priest, and Virgin Steele. For their part, bassist Fox and drummer Sebastian churn out steady, muscular rhythms, providing the thump & groove for these heavy hitting songs.
However, a good amount of Triumph and Power is extremely cliche ridden, as well as sounding a tad 'unfinished'. "Dominator", despite some powerful riffs, is as hokey as you can get, and "Arv" sounds like a little studio jam that was just thrown in at the last minute."Holmgång" is a cool chugging romp, but it's pretty brief and just feels like it could have been fleshed out some more, and the same can be said for "The Naked And The Dead". Actually, the riffs & tempos of both of these tracks are fairly similar, so I would have combined them both into one song. "Ymer" is another little brief instrumental that, while nicely done, just seems like atmospheric filler, but thankfully the band close things out with the epic anthem "The Hammer Will Bite". Yeah, it's got cliches running wild, but it's a fun tune that will get you singing along and your fist thrusting in the air.
Triumph and Power probably would have been better served as an EP, with some of the fat trimmed and left on the cutting room floor. Some truly strong tunes here, but on the same token some generic filler, and you have to wonder if Grand Magus are either running out of ideas or simply need a break. Either way, this one's not up to their usual greatness but still contains some very strong material that will keep their growing fan base happy.
Track Listing
1 - On Hooves Of Gold
2 - Steel Versus Steel
3 - Fight
4 - Triumph And Power
5 - Dominator
6 - Arv
7 - Holmgång
8 - The Naked And The Dead
9 - Ymer
10 - The Hammer Will Bite
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