JUDICATOR from the United States have now reached their sixth studio album called βThe Majesty of Decayβ. The band is well-known for resembling the sound and feeling of early BLIND GUARDIAN, but here we have a big change, as the band is trying to leave its influences behind and create its own sound.
The band gave some samples with the singles, βThe High Priestessβ and βThe Black Elkβ, which prepared the ground for the change, but listening to the entire album is truly something else. The speedy power metal parts that characterized the sound of the band are replaced by amazing melodic parts that even the best progressive metal bands would envy. Especially the song βMetamorphosisβ is like BLIND GUARDIAN from the 90s is meeting with DREAM THEATER and the βImages and Wordsβ era. We are simply talking about one of the best tracks of the year -and not only.
Of course, the rest of the album is not that progressive, but all the tracks have a big amount of theatricality and dramatic-grandiose performance. There are some songs (such as the very good track βUrsa Majorβ) which are closer to the traditional sound of the band, but in general the album will be highly appreciated by the fans of the power/progressive metal genre. It is very important that the band was not afraid and moved on to this change. It is a very clever move for the future of the band, because having a sixth album that follows, more or less, the style of the previous ones, would be too tiring and repetitive.
JUDICATORβs new album is an injection of freshness to the sound of heavy metal. Songs such as βFrom the Belly of the Whaleβ, βDaughter of Swordsβ, βJudgmentβ, and the spectacular βMetamorphosisβ are not written every day, and show how beautiful can heavy metal be, if the bands have imagination and are not afraid to try new things that match with the traditional sound. βThe Majesty of Decayβ closes the year 2022 in the best way possible.
Please check the discussion about the band and the album on our forum pages.
