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Kingmaker is the 15th studio album from Pretty Maids, Denmark's long-running melodic Heavy Metal sons. You can check out their history on Metal-Archives, but suffice to say Kingmaker finds original guitarist Ken Hammer and vocalist Ronnie Atkins doing a great job of staying true to the band's roots but keeping up with the times and not simply trying to relive old glories. Pretty Maids was always on the melodic end of the spectrum and flirted with Hard Rock on occasion in addition to being one of the first non-glam Heavy Metal bands to make heavy use of keyboards. Kingmaker finds Hammer, Atkins and crew "scuffing up" their typical glossy sound for tracks like "When God Took a Day Off" and "Was that What You Wanted (Look What You've Got)" and I have to say they did a nice job adding grit without stepping over the line into "modern" metal. There are still smooth, glossy Pretty Maids songs like "Humanize Me" and "Civilized Monsters" that you'll likely be singing along to after only a short time but there are a couple of tracks I could do without, like "Last Beauty on Earth" and "Heaven's Little Devil". I'd be lying if I said I wasn't reminded of dreaded bands like Creed and Nickelback when they were on, so Kingmaker has some material that will have you reaching for the skip button. Still, it is a big step up from 2014's Louder than Ever and fans of early Pretty Maids and current acts like Masterplan should find quite a lot to enjoy.