Manimal – Armageddon
Release Date: 3rd December 2021
Label: AFM Records
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Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal.
FFO: Judas Priest, Dream Theater, Symphony X.
Review By: Kenny Newall
Sweden’s Manimal deliver their fourth full length, Armageddon and continue with their not quite power metal, not quite original stylings. While most bands wear their influences on their sleeves or their t-shirts, Manimal tend to wear them on their fretboards. And that raises a couple of contradictions. This is maybe the Manimal album where the riffs are the most obviously ‘influenced,’ but it also might well be, probably is, their best album, highlighting their own take to its fullest. The other contradiction is that in my last review for U.D.O. I rated it poorly because it was so unoriginal. Whereas I’m not feeling that so much with Manimal. (Udo Dirkschneider sang on the Manimal song, TheJourney from their second album as a wee coincidence). However, where U.D.O. rehashed rather boring musical tropes, Manimal have pretty much nicked some riffs, but then run with them to produce something worth listening to. As much as I want something new, I don’t really care if a band sounds like someone or even everyone else, who doesn’t these days. I mean, I’ll knock a half star off, not for stealing from the best, but for not nailing the getaway, but so long as the songwriting and playing is up there and I’m entertained, that’s all I ask from this style of metal.
And the elements that combine to bring that entertainment are a solid, polished production; the high quality, high range vocals of power metal; some of the same riffing and structures, but not the operatic approach; and a mostly mid-tempo, high energy approach as opposed to speed. Though guitarist Henrik Stenroos can fairly let his fingers fly when the songs allow.
The press release lets us know the songwriting is riff based, but the vocal melody is also just as much a part of who Manimal are and Samuel Nyman has a range that allows the songs to go places. Though HE is the singer. There aren’t many harmonies or backing vocals at play. There’s a riff, there’s a vocal melody and the rest of the band are there to ram it in your face, not contend. It’s probably a compliment that the drums and bass don’t stand out. Though at times, I’m looking at you Path To The Unknown, the band can slip into the obviously trying to write a single route. Though they do redeem themselves by not releasing it. And in fairness, that and The Inevitable End are the only songs that didn’t tingle the bits of me I like to have tingled. Tingly might not be what the band want to be called, but the other 8 songs are just that.
So for a 13 year old that isn’t familiar with the originals, this may well be one of the albums of their childhood that’ll always have nostalgia later in life to give it that wee bit more appeal. I was lucky enough to be 13 in 1986 when another Swedish band, the mighty Europe gave us The Final Countdown. And yeah, no sarcasm, I rate that up there with Slippery When Wet, Reign In Blood or Master Of Puppets. So while Armageddon will never replace those go-to’s, it’ll definitely become a why-not.
(Miscellaneous thoughts: The riffs/melodies that seem pretty much nicked are from Arch Enemy, Rammstein, Korn, Halford solo and Dream Theater. The band list Judas Priest, King Diamond and Queensrÿche as influences and you didn’t really need them to tell you, especially in the vocals. The band’s corpse paint doesn’t really gel with the music and makes them look more like Joker minions rather than, well actually even most of the black metal bands still look like Joker minions. Yes, there is a French death metal Manimal. Also a 1983 American TV show featuring a shape-shifting crime fighter. Batman was a bloke bit by a bat whereas the cover dude is a bloke bit, bat bit. And the cover sums up the band. Not that original, but still rather fucking fine).
(4 / 5)
