A good traditional Heavy Metal album is what anyone into Metal scene needs to be happy, because no one got into this life listening to Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal or another extreme Metal genre (even with many denying such fact). Some offerings are so good to hear that makes the heart beats faster and full of happiness. And releases as "The Conquest of Time", of the Swedish duet CENTURY is one of them. The guys have no other definition to their music: pure traditional Heavy Metal in the veins of NWOBHM and Swedish Heavy Metal (remembering that Sweden had a strong scene before it became widely known), plenty of excellent hooking melodies bleeding in pure energy.

It's full of hooks and choruses that easy to catch and sing along after the first listen, and although the technical side of the band's music isn't exaggerated, it's not so simple as well in terms of arrangements and shifts between ambiences (and there are slow and faster songs as well, creating a diverse appeal for the fans). Finally: one can say that "The Conquest of Time" is a very good and honest release after all. Staffan Tengnér (the band's vocalist/guitarist, bassist) mixed the songs and did the recordings (having the help of Oscar Ulfheden on the last part), and Jamie Elton worked on the mastering. The sonority has an organic and simple approach, but the band's music needs something more powerful in the future, indeed, because their songs ask for it.

The album is composed by 9 very good songs, and even with the duet is not reinventing the wheel (or, in other words, isn't doing anything that wasn't done in the past), songs as "The Fighting Eagle" (a raw and straight song, that bears the crude and savage energy of NWOBHM early days, with very good guitar riffs and arrangements), "Black Revenant" (a song with slower rhythms where the melodies and weight become evident, with bass guitar and drums working on a very good and solid way),  "Sinister Star" (another song filled with hooking melodies that bleed in raw energy, with good vocals that can be better in the future), "The Conquest of Time" (the clichés of the genre can be heard on this one, especially in the guitars rich set of arrangements), "Master of Hell" (this one is a purely NWOBHM influenced song, with a perfect entanglement between weight and melodies), and "Servants of the Iron Mask" show an honest and good work that deserves to be heard and enjoyed.

"The Conquest of Time" is a very good release, indeed. Finally, all that's left to say is that you all must listen and enjoy what's offered by CENTURY.