Dynazty are now knocking on the door of the big time

Considering these Swedes produced my album of the year with 2012's 'Sultans Of Sin', this release was hugely anticipated by yours truly. I was salivating at the prospect of more songs like 'The One To Blame', 'Land Of Broken Dreams' and 'Falling' which were so immediate and catchy that I wondered how they could seriously top it?

Truth be told, having gone a step Progressively heavier and darker on each album, they've gone, in the words of vocalist Nils Molin, four steps heavier and darker on this album; after giving it an initial spin I was wondering if they'd gone too far. Calling their album 'Renatus' which is Latin for 'born again', it signifies the change in record company (Stormvox to Spinefarm), change in bass player (Joel Fox Appelgren to Jonathan Olsson), change in management and a definite change in musical direction.

However, all is not lost. It just required perseverance and the right listening experience, as this album is a grower. It took until the sixth spin to reveal all of its hidden depths and I must say, despite the lack of an immediate song that jumps right out at you from the speakers, the song writing and performance level have matured in the eighteen months or so from when 'Sultans...' was released.

The melodies and fantastic choruses are still littered all over this album, albeit slightly buried in the darker production, but what has emerged is strength in the compositions and some fabulous melodic guitar interplay between Mikael Laver and (Rob) Love Magnusson on the solos. Molin has that trademark screaming vibrato a la Dream Theater's James LaBrie at times and his awesome range takes the likes of the fast flowing 'Dawn Of Your Creation' to even greater heights with the Neo-Classical solo topping it off. George Egg surpasses himself at times with some amazing powerful drumming throughout, most evident on the riff-heavy 'Unholy Deterrent' with some intricate drum patterns amongst the pounding rhythms, and new boy Olsson, with his frenetic finger-picking bass lines has instantly matched up with Egg to create that dark tempo that underpins the heavy riffs.

With the heavy, fast paced Rocker and first single 'Starlight', with its melodic wall of sound and a song about the needlessness of violence, Dynazty have the opportunity to break into the European Heavy Metal market occupied by the likes of Helloween, Stratovarius, and Hammerfall, not necessarily so obvious after their last album. And with the epic soundscapes of 'The Northern End', the bombastic 'Run Amok' and the heavy, epic marching Viking Metal of 'Sunrise In Hell' that Swedes do ever so well, Dynazty are now knocking on the door of the big time!

Carl Buxton