My first encounter with MAJESTY OF REVIVAL's mastermind, Mr. Dmitry Pavlovsky was made through his early solo release "PowerSquad" in 2012, his guitarist prowess and his melodic potential seems immense and his tone and style is right up in the genre that I love the most: Neo-Classical & Shred Metal. Talking about the Ukrainian band MAJESTY OF REVIVAL and their new album, their second release "Iron Gods", yet it's still only self-published, but soon it will promoted worldwide by the great team of Power Prog, the rerelease is set for January 17^th.

This talented band released their debut full-length album "Through Reality" in 2012, but i think that the new opus "Iron Gods" is a giant step in the right direction, indeed by mixing some Progressive Power Metal with strong Neoclassical influences and Symphonic Metal elements, darker and heavier than their regular contestant with an obvious Balkan tainted feeling, and a fresh particularity in bringing a lot of dissonant keyboards parts (not unlike their brilliant compatriot the piano virtuoso Vitalij Kuprij), their found a new path with this recipe enhanced by the exceptionally gifted pair of lead vocalist complementary and emulating each other in the most impressive manner.

Their vocal performances are quite different but remains in the Nordic tradition, clean but powerful, with only a few growling, it's I think and despite the awesome level of the players involved, it's still their best asset, I mean c'mon it's like having Goran Edman (Oleksa Dynnyk) and Tony Kakko (Konstantin Naumenko) in the same band, both sharing an equivalent goal. The reminiscence of MAJESTIC / TIME ODYSSEY / ADAGIO / IRON MASK / HOLY FORCE / ZOOL or MAGIC KINGDOM are evidently enhanced by their typical sounds, even some SONATA ARCTICA flavors (mostly within the track "Close Your Eyes").

The additional influences are numerous, from Thrash to cinematic but the mood is definitively ranged in the intellectual music, setting toward sad atmospheres, dramatic & chaotic spirit, cold soundscapes and dystopian futuristic themes wrapped in an 'end of the world" symphony of choir. Some guests coming from the deep underground are featuring: Nelly Hanael, guest vocalist Jouni Nikula (REQUIEM / ex-ALTARIA) and fellow Swedish shredder Magnus Nordh (ex-MAJESTIC/TIME REQUIEM). After the epic closing title track, the bonus cut "Mad Song" is displaying their most uncontrolled vibes, lunatic arrangements, electronic loops and insane vocals.

An adventurous release recommended for the fans of the aforementioned acts, clearly reserved to the highest aristocracy of Metal Fans... Are you one of those?