Germany is a unique country in terms of Metal music. It has everything in every style that goes from SCORPIONS to KREATOR and everything in between. However, it seems that they also have a passion for melodic Metal with touches of Classical music and some medieval vibes. Songs that praise the battle and the mythical. Some bands will invest a lot in their visuals according to the theme of the repertoire, and there is always a sword. That being said, we have the band RIGORIOUS from Germany that is releasing their second full album Kingdom Unfold via Metalapolis Records. After hearing the first 3 tracks I have asked myself, why is the keyboardist not credited? He is a great part of the sound on this album.

Who plays it? All the arrangements have basically the keys starting the songs on this album. They do have decent songs like “Fate Is Sealed” and “King” that started the album, but nothing that catched my ears yet. Despite the good arrangements and a nice bass line from Sebastian Kanczok in the track “Hear Me Out” , the tunes are failing to provide that extra punch, or that extra something that takes your music away from the average bands of the genre. The band is composed of good musicians and some IRON MAIDEN inspired riffs are available like in “Midnight” ( not 2 minutes to) with the good guitar duo of Lukas Famula and Christopher Blankenaufulland (that is the last time that I will write your name). You cannot help comparing the sound with bands like RAMMSTEIN or HALLOWEEN that are within the whereabouts of the genre, but these bands offer something extra so they can rise from the common bands. What I am trying to say is that I am finding the songs a little uninspired in their melodies and sometimes sound a little flat.

The best one is “The Snake” , which has an interesting dynamic and a nice vocal duet. However, I believe that the issue is exactly with the vocals. The singer's voice is a little weak for the genre I believe. He sounds more like a crooner in some songs. Not in every song. Some tracks like “To Life” have more edgy vocals. I understand that RIGORIOUS has 2 vocalists as guitar player Lukas Famula also sings and does the rough vocals I believe . One sings kind of Metal and one kind of Julio Iglesias, and both do not impress. The band can also go speed melodic Metal as well as you can hear in “Dreams” where the highlight is drummer Paul Reil with his double bass drum madness. The album ends with “Akeldama” that has a nice acoustic guitar intro before the guitar attack, and for me took the title of the best of the album so far. I believe all the ingredients are there except the singing. In bands of this genre, the vocalists are usually phenomenal and it is hard to compete. Lukas Remus is a good singer and sings in tune, but he is not a Metal singer. Overall, nice work for the German gang and things should get better as they keep on cooking.