The third album release from the Swedish classical hard rockers Narnia produced from guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark himself, is an improvement over their second Long Live The King and their debut Awakening.
Finally the melodic songs have a better finish and the common cliche traps have been avoided for their own good. Desert Land stylewise,has the delivery and melodic drive of the kind of stuff that Sweden was renowned for a decade ago (Glory, Treat, Skagarack), yet its roots lie undeniably in Malmsteen territory. One of the closest comparisons I can think of is the sound that Nation delivered on the Chased By Time album. What about the songs? Whereas I sometimes feel that Yngwie tends to get carried away and tries to create a song around his solos, Narnia, like Nation, have showed that the best approach is to concentrate on the cake and then add the icing afterwards. Consequently, the nine songs on here all stand up individually under close scrutiny. Opener Inner Sanctrum is a perfect vehicle to emphasize this point. The main riff cuts through and propels the song majestically into melody laden, neoclassical heaven. That pretty much sets the scene for the whole album really. Basically the whole album is harder than Long Live The King and that's cause maybe they got inspired by their tour with Dio, cause their new material can be compared to Black Sabbath during their Heaven And Hell period. Songs like Inner Sanctum, The Witch And The Lion or Revolution Of Mother Earth are so far the most heavy material the band ever composed.
So the overall is that fans of Malmsteen or Nation will go absolutely mental over this release, but it would make a fine and worthwhile addition to anyone´s CD collection. For fans of high quality, hard yet irresistibly melodic rock everywhere.