Majesties – Vast Reaches Unclaimed
Release Date: 3rd March 2023
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom, Heavy Metal.
FFO: In Flames, Eucharist, Dark Tranquillity, Iron Maiden, Ceremonial Oath.
Review By: Mark Young
Melodic death metal can be polarising with those that feel that bands that concentrated on melody moved too far from the idea of death metal as a whole. Reading through the release information, Majesties make no apologies for wanting to reinvigorate this genre and wipe clean as they put it the “corruption of the style experienced in a post Slaughter of the Soul world” and there lies a problem. If you have an album which is regarded as being the possible pinnacle of form for this music, then you better bring your best.
With that in mind, let’s dive into Vast Reaches Unclaimed.
Straight off I’m struck with how much Iron Maiden seems to have been absorbed here as In Yearning Alive comes flying out of the speakers. It has everything you could possibly want – Melodies, twin guitars, double bass, but there is something missing. The World Unseen and Our Gracious Captors continue in the same manner, all are well written and arranged and sound great, but there is still the nagging feeling that the use of bright, major keys makes it sound too happy.
This music SHOULD be dark, imbued with minor keys. Listening to this, I get a mental picture of feet up on monitors and massive smiles all round. But no spandex.
There is also a slight tonal shift in Across The Neverwhen, Sidereal Spire and Journey’s End where these seem just different from the other songs here, suggesting (to me) that they came from a different origin and possibly betray a sound that Majesties is closer to.
I want to point out that this is a good album, the songs are good, performed well and everything sounds spot on, but it doesn’t hit the same way as Slaughter… it just feels a bit flat, especially as it is being used for comparison.
This is so annoying to say that about anybody, considering the effort they put in with everything associated with this release. On the flip side, this is their debut release and is certainly strong enough for them to kick on from. They term this as being old-school melodic metal, but I don’t remember anyone sounding like this apart from Iron Maiden. As I’ve said there are positives here, musicianship, composition is to a high standard, but it doesn’t go for the throat as you would expect given its influences. For me, it feels like it is in third gear and is almost content to stay there. It will find an audience for those who like In Flames and that genre of music in general, but their next album will be pivotal for them if they are really make good on their respective talents.
1. In Yearning Alive
2. The World Unseen
3. Our Gracious Captors
4. Verdant Paths To Radiance
5. Across The Neverwhen
6. Seekers Of The Ineffable
7. Sidereal Spire
8. Temporal Anchor
9. City Of Nine Gates
10. Journey’s End
(3.5 / 5)
