Among The Gods is Mob Rules' 4th studio album, after Savage Land, Temple Of Two Suns and Hollowed Be Thy Name, and it comes on top of their last year participation in Wacken Road Show and a german tour with Helloween and Rage in the autumn.
This time I will change my review's structure and first comment on the songs and then continue with my general impression.
To begin with I'll borrow Klaus Dirks' words: Our music reflects two worlds, the more sophisticated one and another that goes straight to the gut.
Indeed, there are two categories of songs in the album. There are the catchy ones, like Hydrophobia, a speedy track with powerhouse guitars resembling Edguy, Invitation Time, also speedy, Ship Of Fools, which is a mid-tempo song woth heavy guitars, a slow song called Seven Seas and Meet You In Heaven with the usual tense of speed. The melodies are easy to remember and the whole reminds of times when bands like Helloween dominated Power Metal scene. Especially Klaus' voice sounds as if it comes straight from the golden 80's with its clarity and height and his own fresh complexion.
On the other hand the rest of the tracks are motivated by different ideas. Black Rain, the 1st single of the album, is a symphonic mid-tempo nightmare with a great choir that helps out forming an atmosphere of terror. The Miracle Dancer is directed to more progressive paths sounding a bit like Kamelot. The relaxing sound of a pan-pipe reveals the ethnic feature of the song which has a North American flair. Among The Gods, characterised by monumental keys and the contribution of Ronald Grapow (Masterplan) to the guitars and Ian Parry (Consortium Project) to the choir, refers to the papers of indulgence the Catholic Church was selling during the Middle Ages. New World Symphony intends to sound like an opus' soundrack and the orchestral parts form the most of its duration. In Arabia the band aimed at creating a Middle East feeling but the oriental sense is only given by the guitar solo.
What makes Among The Gods stand out is that in this travel through places, time and variable music styles it never loses its primal identity of a Power Metal album. Originality does not necessarily mean coming up with something totally new; the combination of the ability to take advantage of various influences, the strengh of personality that prevents these influences from overshadowing the artist and an amount of talent and inspiration always has a good result. And in this case the result confirms the rennaisance of European Power Metal. Give us more! The future will certify their quality.
The limited edition of this cd contains a bonus cd including Black Rain's video-clip and its director's cut edition, a video-clip of End Of All Days recorded during Wacken Road Show, an unreleased track called Battlefield Control, an unreleased demo track called All In A Time, a Savatage cover (When I Bleed) and interviews of the band and the making of.