
Empire 21
Empire 21
Empire 21 Records
2014
Empire 21 is a newcomer which features members from well-known bands such as Narnia, Darkwater & Harmony. Specifically, we have Carl-Johan Grimmark (Grimmark, Narnia, Rob Rock, Planet Alliance, ex-Saviour Machine etc.) on guitars, John Svensson (Harmony) on keys and Tobias Enbert (Harmony, Darkwater) on drums. The band’s line-up ends with Ricard Hulteke and Andreas Alov on vocals and bass respectively.
The band’s music is a nice amalgam of hard rock and melodic metal. Hard & heavy music with doses of melody and heavy (power metal – only a few) melodic metal elements. It may sound fine but the final outcome is not that appealing. No there’s nothing wrong with the performances, the singer has a great voice and the production is heavy and powerful. So what this album lacks is memorable melodies in general. It’s too generic. Solid but overdone, very predictable with numerous clichés. If the hooks were more appealing then it could be way better but now it leaves a lot to be desired… there’s time to fix things till their next album…
The band’s music is a nice amalgam of hard rock and melodic metal. Hard & heavy music with doses of melody and heavy (power metal – only a few) melodic metal elements. It may sound fine but the final outcome is not that appealing. No there’s nothing wrong with the performances, the singer has a great voice and the production is heavy and powerful. So what this album lacks is memorable melodies in general. It’s too generic. Solid but overdone, very predictable with numerous clichés. If the hooks were more appealing then it could be way better but now it leaves a lot to be desired… there’s time to fix things till their next album…