'The Ferrymen' is a great group of three artists from the international metal scene, first of all the singer 'Ronnie Romero' who officiates in multiple projects including 'Lords Of Black', 'Sunstorm' and having participated in the last album of the 'Caterina Nix' project 'Chaos Magic' to name only the 3 latest albums reviewed in myprogmusic, then the multi-instrumentalist 'Magnus Karlsson' who is also well taken up in various projects including the latest album from 'Anette Olzon', his metal opera project 'Heart Healer' or his participation in the project 'Allen/Olzon' and, finally, as they say, the "last but not the least", I named, 'Mike Terrana' who is known to have been the drummer of 'Tarja' for several years and who has a resume cv as long as a day without bread (I refer you to 'Wikipedia'). With such references, we will not be surprised that this new opus, in line with its predecessors 'The Ferrymen' of 2016 and 'A New Evil' of 2019, a kind of best off of melodic metal compositions with always very rich arrangements by 'Magnus Karlsson' which bring an extraordinary density to the whole (the Swede not only provides all the keyboard parts and all the registers of electric guitar with in particular remarkable solos but also takes care of the bass). We therefore sail through a series of compositions each as addictive as the next with, first of all, in an energetic style, the melodic and catchy jewels that are 'One World', 'The Last Wave', 'The Other Side ' or even 'The Passenger' which all bring immediate listening pleasure. Then the eponymous title of the album as well as 'Bringers of the Dark' and 'The Last Ship' bring an epic and symphonic side thanks to admirable orchestral and vocal arrangements, and we cannot miss the power ballad 'Morning Star' and the melodic hit 'Shut It Out' which would have been a hit in the 80s. In short, this latest album by the supergroup 'The Ferrymen' is full of memorable melodies that can be enjoyed one after the other and 'One More River to Cross' will certainly be played over and over again by all fans of melodic heavy metal... | |
