• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? And by that I mean a while since Grand Magus released anything that was not embarrassing. They hit a high point with their fourth album Iron Will, and I was stoked to see what they did next. Well, what they did was piss away the next five years producing wussed-out, commercially-oriented rock crap like The Hunt. They still had decent riffs, but the bite and hunger of albums like Wolf's Return was long gone.

Which is why Triumph and Power is so refreshing, because it's like they decided to go ahead and make the album they should have made years ago. The guitar tone is still a bit soft for me, but it's much better than the last two albums. Janne sounds miles better, and actually sings memorable hooks, and this is the most consistent album they have produced since. . . well, maybe ever. Even at their best Grand Magus always had some filler, but this album is very solid. Here they blend together their Manowar stomp with the epic touch of Bathory they have always had to produce an all-around fun album. There's nothing here as good as "I Am The North", but this is still more than I thought they had in them.