Four albums in Fifteen years isn’t the most regular of album output, but Scandinavian (Three Swedish musicians with a Norwegian vocalist) Melodic Power Metal Band Saint Deamon are not a band to be rushed. In the scheme of things, it’s a mere four years since their previous release “Ghost” and with just a drummer change, the continuity in song-writing and performance is evident immediately. “League Of The Serpent” carries on where its predecessor left off, but with an even greater concentration on glistening melody and polished arrangements. Melodic Power Metal at its shiniest!
Loosely terming this band Melodic Power Metal might seem a touch ambivalent, but comparisons have always been difficult with Saint Deamon, because over their previous three full-lengthers they have crafted their own sound which might easily stand alongside bands such as Thunderstone, Silent Force, Serenity or Sonata Arctica, but like these bands, Saint Deamon aren’t just a Power Metal band. They go with what a song feels like it needs and if that puts them further away from a Hammerfall or Stratovarius and nearer to Symphonic Metal (‘Raise Hell’) or Melodic Metal (‘A Lie To Be Undone’) then so be it. Or of course, they could choose to just write an instant, attention-grabbing three and a half minute anthem like ‘Load Your Cannons’. They do what feels right.
There’s an audible attention to detail about the songs on this album. It’s not about getting to the chorus as soon as possible, it’s about making the whole song as memorable as possible. Tracks like ‘Lord Of The Night’ for example feel like they have multiple choruses such is the importance that vocalist Jan-Thore Grefstad places on every vocal line. Each one delivered with the glossy sheen that the band exudes from start to finish. The music has to have some kind of iridescent quality to it already of course and the rest of the band have no problem in giving Grefstad an involved and interesting podium to cast his vocal magic from. The guitar touches from Toya Johannson in particular keep the listener guessing, weaving all sorts of intriguing influences into the Saint Deamon sound.
I do keep coming back to how polished the songs sound however. Not in a “by numbers” way, more from the idea that the members initially wrote a pretty decent set of songs that many a band would happily settle for, but then actually thought “OK, that’s a start, now how can we improve them, make them more interesting and give them even more depth?”. This is an album that has taken time, you can hear it, and therefore I guess four years since the band’s previous offering seems to be a little more acceptable if this new one sounds like it has been worked on for a good while – as it does.
(8.5/10 Andy Barker)
Leave a Reply