Full Album Stream: Grand Magus: Triumph And Power – new album

The official soundtrack for Viking power is out now on both grateful continents: GRAND MAGUS' seventh opus magnum, ‘Triumph And Power’, was released on January the 31st, 2014 in Europe, yesterday in the UK and today, February the 4th, in North America on Nuclear Blast Records. The album was recorded at Studio Sweetspot in Halmstad, Sweden with producer Nico Elgstrand and engineer Staffan Karlsson, and is covered in the art courtesy of Anthony Roberts. According to GRAND MAGUS, ‘Triumph And Power’ will “melt your face” therefore you should visit Classic Rock here (full album stream) for the aforementioned to happen. The Swedish riff merchants' new album awaits you here (Nuclear Blast store), on iTunes and Amazon/Amazon MP3. MetalSucks comments:

“This is music that would fit just as well being performed on a mountaintop as it would in a sweaty rock club, a balance oft quite difficult to strike, especially in a subgenre known for its extreme level of theatrics and posturing. But I find it rather easy to take GRAND MAGUS quite seriously as a super-solid band. Yes, the ostentatious drama is there, but it feels purposeful through and through. Every track on this album is a winner, and these loveable Swedes can certainly count on me to join their army in the crusade to fight for metal (metal that’s real),” [writes Kip Wingerschmidt who allegedly fights for truth, justice, and steaming hot pork dumplings – more here]

 

GRAND MAGUS was founded by vocalist and guitarist JB Christoffersson and bassist Mats “Fox” Skinner in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996; the pair was joined by drummer Fredrik “Trisse” Liefvendahl two years later. After recording a three-track demo, GRAND MAGUS released their self-titled debut album in 2001 through Rise Above Records (“The Swedish threesome revels in all things doomy and bell-bottomed, with tempos ranging from slow and chugging to slower and droning,” Brian O'Neill, AllMusic – more here), followed by ‘Monument’ in 2003 (“Powerful, steady, unrelenting, and always f*ckin' heavy, ‘Monument’ helped put the bite back into what was then a distressingly flagging strain of heavy metal,” Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic – more here) and ‘Wolf's Return’ in 2005 (“Of course, the fact that GRAND MAGUS combine their melodic/harmonic sense with a lot of loud, amplified, balls-to-the-wall aggression is what makes them both headbangers and craftsmen - and this time, they do it in a way that links doom metal/stoner rock with power metal,” Alex Henderson, AllMusic – more here). As its predecessor, 2008's ‘Iron Will’ was released through Rise Above Records in Europe and through Candlelight Records in North America:

“Perhaps more than any other popular music style, heavy metal has the most subgenres. But besides MANOWAR, “he-man metal” has been a subgenre explored by few others - a style so testosterone-heavy that only the toughest and proudest of specimens are allowed entrance into the proceedings. … As evidenced by their 2008 release, the appropriately titled ‘Iron Will’, the chaps fit the aforementioned description oh so perfectly… ‘Iron Will’ is the perfect soundtrack for the next time you’re trying on your furry loincloth and/or doing your next bench-press set. All hail Viking metal!” [These grand words belong to Greg Prato, AllMusic – more here:]

GRAND MAGUS' fifth full-length album, ‘Hammer Of The North’ was issued in 2010 on Roadrunner Records; the album was once more praised by critics (“listeners would do well just to leave their suspicions at the gates of Valhalla and accept the righteous northerly hammering awaiting them here,” wrote Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic – more here) and had entered the German Album Charts at position number 42. The Swedish riff lords (as they are commonly referred to), released ‘The Hunt’, GRAND MAGUS' sixth LP, in 2012 through Nuclear Blast Records; the album which introduced new drummer Ludwig Witt was produced by Nico Elgstrand: “Long may they ride, long may they hunt,” had wished AllMusic's elder Eduardo Rivadavia (more here):

GRAND MAGUS features: Fox Skinner – bass and backing vocals, JB Christoffersson – guitar and vocals and Ludwig Witt – drums