The Swedish band PALANTíR released an EP with seven melodic and epic metal tunes for our listening pleasure. The name of the band is from a magic crystal ball from the Lord Of The Rings saga I read. Why not make 3 more songs so we can call it an album instead of an EP? Just 3 more songs…We start with “Engage” and it is a cover of the memorable theme of the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey (Also Sprach Zarathustra) played in a Rock Style. Cool. The movie theme is already epic and if you add guitars, it gets more epic.

The next one is “ A Distant Place” and immediately you can notice that these guys are not messing around. Great music arrangements and musicianship and a vocal from Marcus S. Olkerud that fits the style perfectly. This tune takes you to different moods and creative riffs. It reminds you of the greats in the genre. We follow proper speed metal with “Sailing On”.Good double bass and overall work from competent drummer Emanuel Lindberg in this tune that takes me back to the great ANGRA. Great vocal melody and classical music touches in the riffs. The good bass player Kevin Crona does not compromise and the band also has a Malmesteen’s style guitar player on Fredrik E. Enochson. Their website advises that their shows are very theatrical  and I believe a good production could take the songs to another level.

The next one is “Griftkväde” that means "grifty quince" according to Google translate (thanks for nothing Google!). The tune starts with the keys in the background and a sweet vocal melody telling a magic tale…and it ends. WTF? I was thinking that a great follow up would come with that great introduction and that is it? I now understand why they call it an EP. I hope that “Nightmare Opus” is a real Opus. We start again with the great work of keyboard player Johannes Frykholm that uses all the classic keyboard sounds from Hammond to Synthesizers, from John Lord to Rick Wakeman. This tune is a whopping 10 minutes and 35 seconds. It is really an interminable Opus. Despite the great performance and craftsmanship, it tends to get lost and a little boring after the 6 minute mark which I consider time enough for an Opus Rock style tune.

We get close to the end with the acoustic version of “Escaping Reality” from their first 2017 full album Lost Between Dimensions. The song takes you back to medieval times mixed with a Disney Theme. Too soft for my taste. Is like a medieval bard from a Disney movie is having his singing moment. Give me some Metal please. We end this somewhat irregular album with “Lost Between Pixels” with a strange video game-like theme on the keyboard,  and I was just waiting for Mario to show up and then…it ends. WTF was that again?

This is a good band that may be a little lost in their output or rushing the few songs they have ready in a very short EP. So much to show but Nightmare Opus is not a good postcard of what the band can really do. I would expect a EP with different songs on it so we can get a firm impression of their future potential and not 2 good songs, a too long song, and nothing else to chew.