Band:
Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin (vocals)
Christian (Christisan) Lasegue (guitar)
Mark Briody (guitar)
John Tetley (bass)
Rikard Stjernquist (drums)
Discography:
Ample Destruction (1984)
Dissident Alliance (1994)
The Fourth Judgement (1997)
The Age of Mastery (1998)
Thane to the Throne (2000)
Mechanized Warfare (2001)
Chain of Command (2004)
Casting the Stones (2004)
Guests:
Info
Jim Morris (mix)
Released 28/2-2011
Reviewed 14/1-2011
Links:
jagpanzer.com
myspace
spv
The best that ’The Scourge of the Light’ can do is to tell fishing stories about how they captured me in their net and pulled me into the Jag Panzer boat, but as everyone knows fishing stories are only filled with exaggerations and lies. What ‘The Scourge of Light’ can be identified as is a decent power metal album without anything special or strange. The entire album I feel sounds pretty much the same with an exception in the last song, The Book of Kells, that feels mighty and grand with orchestral arrangements and choirs. Technically the entire album (except the mentioned one) lies in the same swamp and tries to float, which they do but just barely. Because of this it’s easier for me to capture the band with my net and put them right in front of my saw than the likeness of the band capturing me for a meal.
The tempo is more or less the same on the entire album, they neither have ballads or faster song. Instead they fill the album with mid tempo songs from beginning to end. The refrains is more or less identical with each other and the only thing that separate them from each other is how they’ve mixed the guitars, drums and bass separately. The structure is more or less identical on all refrains even though they play them slightly different. Beside this Harry “The Tyrant” isn’t very good at varying his voice – it is a typical power metal voice but he’s neither going up or down in tone or do any other kind of experiments with it.
Naturally, with these qualifications, the band doesn’t have the best conditions to get us on the hook or create masterpieces. The biggest issue with this album is that there is nothing that really capture your mind – something extra interesting or special. Not a single part, song or either instrumental or vocal breakthrough can be heard that really get you to halt everything and senseless enjoy the music. It’s to static, and moderate – except with ambitions and belief that it is grand, great and fabulous. The problem is that it isn’t. It’s flat, unimaginative and half good. To use my normal measure of these things – if the earth were to be destroyed and you only could save a certain number of albums, this one wouldn’t even be considered.
I also think that there is a reason to why I never have heard the frase ”you who like power metal must like Jag Panzer!” in my life. My guess it’s just this problem, they can’t do anything above average. During a huge number of years I’ve known about Jag Panzer, but I’ve actually never heard a song from them before this album. And I’m not about to be the one starting to use that frase I just pulled more than in that sentence.
The fear of light from Jag Panzer sounds just as power metal normally do. It’s not bad but neither is it good. It’s just so-so, decent but nothing you chose to listen at because of the simple reason that it doesn’t matter what mood you’re in – you always have some sort of preferens of what you would like more of. Jag Panzer on the other hand doesn’t have more of anything, neither less, and they do music that hit the exact middle of the scale measuring what’s good and bad. Jag Panzer is not a Swedish translation of iPanzer – the new tank from Apple – because Jag Panzer doesn’t have any apps at all.
HHHHHHH
