Persuader - The Fiction Maze (2014)^{Release ID: 12743}

Persuader's best-produced, heaviest-sounding album. Excellent material but not quite the front-to-back masterpiece When Eden Burns was.

The guitars sound thicker and meatier than ever before. The magnificent production is much clearer and lends the band's sound a certain full-bodied depth to it that was lacking before. Prior albums were occasionally fuzzy around the edges in that regard.

Jens Carlsson's vocals (his powerful range and Kursch-esque screams) are absolutely superb as always, and are Persuader's biggest strength. The sheer conviction of his delivery is what truly separates him from his peers. With his pipes, Persuader could make any song sound good. Accompanying Jens, the instruments are bold, crisp and tight throughout the album. This is a professional-sounding METAL album. Persuader continue their amazing knack for melodies that made When Eden Burns so memorable, but they also bring back some of the angriness and grit from Evolution Purgatory, forming an album that rests in a happy medium between the two and is guaranteed to satisfy fans.

While I find the songwriting on The Fiction Maze to be a slight step down from their last outing simply because there aren't as many next-level "wow moments" (like, say, the outro to "Judas Immortal"), the songcraft is still consistently fantastic. A couple songs don't quite make the leap from good to great, but the highlights are among Persuader's best work. Some of them are huge growers! The Fiction Maze was initially a slight disappointment after When Eden Burns, which I rate as near-perfect, but I now recognize it as an excellent continuation of Persuader's impressive discography and a true year/career/subgenre highlight. Close to a 4.5.

Highlights: One Lifetime, The Fiction Maze, Deep In The Dark, Son of Sodom, Sent to Grave, Falling Faster