December 2021 Feature Release – The Guardians Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Guardians has been nominated by Xephyr. It's last year's Christmas-themed sophomore album "A Christmas Carol" from Swedish symphonic power metal outfit Majestica.

https://metal.academy/releases/25174

Review done, and fair to say the outcome surprised even me.  Xephyr, credit to you for this one mate.  Completely outside of my comfort zone and I absolutely loved it.

Not being the world’s biggest fan of Christmas (or of Majestica) seeing this album come up for review this month in the Guardians clan made me shudder somewhat. These facts withstanding it is impossible to deny the unwavering commitment to their artform that Majestica display on this album. The fact that I can acknowledge this after just the first three tracks of this album bodes better than originally thought for the Swedes.

Before getting into the detail of the album proper, let me just apply some context to my opening statement about not being Christmas’ biggest fan. I do not hate Christmas as an annual event, more the fact that it is so vividly commercialised and capitalised that it feels a far cry from the true meaning of it. The side of Christmas that Majestica deliver here is the bit I don’t mind so much. The pomp and circumstance of the band’s brand of symphonic power metal is perfect for such a themed album.

The artists involved are capable musicians. With Sabaton guitarist Tommy Johansson handling the majority of the songwriting and Alex Oriz, Joell Kollberg, Chris David and Tommy all sharing vocal duties across the album, it is obvious that real thought went into this album. Yes, it is cheesy as fuck! Yes, it has a shit-ton of polish applied to it (it’s a symphonic power metal album after all) and it is so far away from my usual comfort zone that I need a compass, passport, and a few booster jabs to get back “home” safely but the point is, I DON’T FUCKING CARE! This album is like a giant yuletide hug and even if you don’t want hugging then you have no choice in the matter because it’s shiny, glitzy arms are massive and will grab you no matter how quick you try to run.

Be slightly annoyed by the way that they weave the tune of a hundred Christmas carols into the music as it ploughs through grandiose power metal structures. Feel a little uncomfortable at how infectious those over-the-top the vocals are all, hide your incessant foot-tapping under your desk and fight the urge hang some lights but you know you are loving this.

I rarely enjoy power metal nowadays, but this is how it should be done. Mercilessly contagious and fantastically theatrical, A Christmas Carol is a blueprint for a hundred wannabe power metal to study and understand that you either go hard or go home.

4.5/5

Alright Xephyr, I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did. It's symphonic metal so there is a certain level of cheese expected and I'm all here for it, but how is going to work as a Christmas album? 

In life, there are a few things that are for certain: death, taxes, and Christmas music. I swear to god, it seems like the benchmark as to when it is considered acceptable to start playing Christmas music gets earlier every single year. And every year my tolerance for Christmas music wears more thin. By the time we make it to the actual day, I'm so sick and tired of Christmas that I just want it to be over. Just for once, I would like to hear someone bring some substance to a genre of music that is incredibly shallow during the best of times.

Enter Majestica, a Swedish symphonic metal band doing the Avantasia gimmick of conceptual metal album with a distinctive holiday flare. And I know what you're thinking: isn't this just the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's gimmick? Well...no. Don't get me wrong: this is pure cheese, but like in a really good way. This isn't just a collection of classic Christmas carols with a hard rock/heavy metal edge. Majestica are ready to go jingle bells to the wall by giving these Christmas carols a facelift. You'll hear interpolations of "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Joy To The World", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" among others. Some of them are transposed into the minor key, most of them are given lyrical overhauls. At the very least, the tunes are given some personality beyond just artist flare.

I would say that this hodgepodge of Christmas theme's can feel overzealous at times, but then you have to take into consideration the concept of this album. In short, it is a retelling of the classic Charles Dickens tale, so I see no real reason as to why these themes cannot be interpolated. In fact, the later half of this album from "Ghost of Christmas to Come" and "A Christmas Has Come", plus the interlude "The Joy of Christmas" have their own melodic ideas; this is thematically smart since the Ghost of Christmas Future would know the songs that we, in the present, do not.

As for the way this album sounds, I can't really think of all that much to say. It's remarkably cheesy as mentioned before as the symphonic elements are blatant and at the forefront of the mix. The bass lines are fruitful, the guitar work is melodic, and the vocals are a little hit and miss, but more hits than misses. The mixing on this record is splendid! I really enjoy how important the instrumentals are to the telling of the tale as much as the lyrics are; it's a very nice touch that you seldom hear in modern pop music, and especially in metal.

Why I hesitate on calling this great is because of my review of DragonForce's Inhuman Rampage a few months ago. I described that record as the quintessential power metal album. With no funny business or progressive fat, it could be a fun experience for those who like straight up, unfiltered metal. Majestica are much the same for symphonic metal, but have the engineering to back it up. A Christmas record might not be the first thing I go to, but for a brief period of time, it does remind me of the most wonderful time of the year. 

8/10

I'm feeling a little bit out of the loop here however I'm sure that it'll surprise approximately no one at all when I inform you that I really fucking struggled with this one guys. It's so at odds with what metal music is to me that I found the three full listens I gave this one to be a major chore. The most alienating moments in European power metal for me are when I find myself describing what I'm hearing as sounding like Christmas carols so an open attempt at that concept was never gonna go down well with this extreme metal fanatic. The sheer ambition & high quality execution on display is undeniable but there really wasn't ever gonna be any other outcome than a fail from me personally.

For fans of ReinXeed, Twilight Force & Rhapsody Of Fire.

2/5

I did my review, here's its summary:

Tommy Johansson has quite a power metal career. After making 6 albums with his main band ReinXeed, he took a break from the band and later joined Sabaton as their new guitarist. Recently, he restarted ReinXeed with a new name, Majestica. The second album from this reincarnation is a Christmas concept album, A Christmas Carol, based on the Charles Dickens classic! Despite its short length of over 40 minutes, and an instrumental intro and outro, the album really does that classic justice. Grinches beware! The album maintains the melodic power metal of Johansson's earlier works, but this time to really kick up the holiday spirit with tinkling bells and genuine orchestration. Expect a lot of festive cheer in this album with catchy metal and orchestral fun, plus a couple minor wine-stinkers such as a ballad right in the middle and the outro. One other problem besides those two tracks is how the other members besides Tommy would sing a line at odd times, but it doesn't matter since he's the vocal star of the show. A Christmas Carol is quite a brave move that might or might not be a proper follow-up to the first Majestica album, Above the Sky. It's a great album to look out for if you're up for Christmas metal. If this band keeps up these Christmas ideas, they might be the next TSO. God bless us with metal, everyone!

4/5

I'm glad that I didn't have to explain myself out of this one, since I was pretty nervous about throwing this one up. Obviously it's for the Christmas season but I'll be the first to admit that this is a really, really dumb album. But it's a dumb album done stupidly well. 

I hadn't heard of Majestica before finding this last year around the holidays and, like everyone else, was extremely apprehensive as to what the album would actually be. Would it just be a retelling of "A Christmas Carol" with generic Power Metal riffs? Would it be their own spin of it with generic Power Metal riffs? Would it even be a Christmas album at all and still have generic Power Metal riffs? Incredibly, Majestica found a way to incorporate actual Christmas songs into a format that actually makes sense around the main story, which moves at an acceptable pace and is explained in just enough detail for the listener to follow Scrooge along his classic tale. Each melody and riff is, as Saxy listed, a well known Christmas song and I had a smile from ear to ear on my first listen as I couldn't believe they were mad enough to actually do it. 

This one was just a shot in the dark to get everyone into whatever spirit they want for the Christmas season, whether you celebrate it or not, so I'm real happy that my patience for over the top Power Metal didn't backfire on me here. Obviously A Christmas Carol is going to blind the likes of Daniel with its rays of shiny, polished production and hilarious attempts at Christmas cheer, but that's kind of the point at the end of the day. Although it's a pretty complex album when it comes to how Majestica weaves in and out of various Christmas tunes and how they write the story, it's entirely surface level junk food of music. And that's cool with me because they nail it. 

4/5

I'm sure you are all waiting for me to pour bile and vitriol all over Majestica's A Christmas Carol, but even if it is nearly christmas, I'm going to disappoint you. In fact I'm going to do something much worse and that is to damn it with faint praise. Firstly, it is no worse than any other European Power Metal album I've ever heard as it's cheesy, overblown and pompous-sounding, which is pretty much par for the course for EUPM in my experience. Secondly, this pomposity and excess seems actually very suited to a christmas-themed concept album as nothing says over-indulgence quite like christmas. In fact the two are so well-suited I can't believe no one has done it before (unless they have, in which case I apologise for my ignorance). Furthermore, at least the subject matter is based on classic literature and not some half-baked, sub-Tolkienesque fantasy bollocks so you get a decent story too. I'm also surprised Andrew Lloyd-Webber isn't knocking Majestica's door down to get a West End stage production on as it doesn't seem a million miles away from Phantom of the Opera or one of his other overpriced stage productions. 

Anyway, I've listened to it once and will never play it ever again, so in that respect at least, it is the perfect summation of the christmas spirit!