Grand Magus - The Hunt

New album coming out from these guys...

Quote :

Swedish heavy rockers GRAND MAGUS will release their new album, "The Hunt", in Europe on May 25 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD's cover artwork was created by Arik Roper (CATHEDRAL, HIGH ON FIRE, SLEEP), who also handled the art on GRAND MAGUS' "Iron Will" LP.

Cool cover. No mention of a US release date yet. Bummer. Looking forward to it though. These guys are killer.

Yes! I will definitely get this one.

Excellent band, looking forward to hearing this.

nice cover

I keep intending to check these guys out. What style would you label them?

Sorry, S.D. but it helps me get an idea if I should pursue them.

Dark Horseman wrote:

I keep intending to check these guys out. What style would you label them?

Sorry, S.D. but it helps me get an idea if I should pursue them.

Their early albums were more Stoner but they have morphed into a straight up Metal band. Check these out:

Their first coupla albums fall into the "doom" category. They've slowly morphed out of that and are just pretty much straight-up heavy metal (with some doom flava) these days.

First they sounded like this...



Now they sound like this...



Fortunately, I like both genres, so either one works for me.

EDIT: Whoops!! Looks like Witchfinder beat me to the punch, but you get the idea.

I never really considered the early albums to be "doom", just 70's style hard rock/proto-metal. Doom gets way overused as a descriptor. I'm not that crazy about the first couple albums, I had both but sold them.

They got interesting with "Wolf's Return" their 3rd album.

Yes Wolfs Return and Iron Will are awesome albums. I don't think they were doom. More like S.D. says 70's style rock. Hammer Of The North took them in another direction and I wasn't too crazy about the album.

S.D. wrote:

I never really considered the early albums to be "doom", just 70's style hard rock/proto-metal. Doom gets way overused as a descriptor. I'm not that crazy about the first couple albums, I had both but sold them.

They got interesting with "Wolf's Return" their 3rd album.

Meh, tomato, tomahto. They were brought to my attention with the doom label, so that was fine by me. If they were sold as "70's style hard rock" I woulda checked 'em out too.

I got one of their albums from you, didn't I? I'm still missing 2 or 3, but the ones I have are all very enjoyable in their own stoney-doomy-retro-heavy-proto-rocking way.

I will give it a listen. I actually love their "When the Oar strikes the Water" a lot. And there are some other good songs too, imo. But only on a record - they didn't manage to convince me live...

The first two cds I thought were good but not outstanding. Wolf's Return is the album that made me take a second chance. I've really liked everything since.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Their first coupla albums fall into the "doom" category. They've slowly morphed out of that and are just pretty much straight-up heavy metal (with some doom flava) these days.

First they sounded like this...



Now they sound like this...

I always wondered what was up with this band using one of my own Armenian patriarch's photo from Jerusalem on their album cover. I guess it goes along with the doomy sound. Bearded monks in black hoods are totally metal, so says my avatar.

Quote :

but the ones I have are all very enjoyable in their own stoney-doomy-retro-heavy-proto-rocking way.

You wordsmith, you.

I became a fan from the Hammer album. Worked my way back through their stuff. When I finally got that first album it surprised me. Even checked to see I hadn't gotten a wrong disc. Gave me an early Soundgarden vibe. Once I got used to it, I actually really started to like it.

This new one will be a certain buy.

Bumping for the May 25th release in Europe. The US will have to wait till June 5th.

I started enjoying Grand Magus after they switched to a more traditional heavy metal sound.

Listening to "The Jury" right now. Great vocals and melodies

Can't wait to get the new album.

Sampled a few songs from this and it's really boring paint-by-numbers traditional metal. A shame, because these guys used to be quite interesting.

I'll definitely be skipping this one.

I ordered it on amazon the other day. I didn't care for the last one. I'm hoping this one is better.

ordered my copy

Anyone else think this new album sounds more "hard rock" than "heavy metal"? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Anyone else think this new album sounds more "hard rock" than "heavy metal"? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I think it's a mix of both, actually. A bit of a surprise, I guess, but it's so good I don't really care.

Eyesore wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Anyone else think this new album sounds more "hard rock" than "heavy metal"? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I think it's a mix of both, actually. A bit of a surprise, I guess, but it's so good I don't really care.

Eh, I dunno. I spun it through a few times and nothing really jumped out at me. I'm a little disappointed, but it could be me. I'll revisit it again, but I just got a boat-load of stuff from Stormspell that I'm anxious to get to.

And having demos of 3 songs as "bonus tracks" that are already on the album and don't sound all that different is lame.

I tried listening to it twice and found it to be dull as dishwater. Tired and uninspired.

Bump for new album info...

Quote :

Swedish heavy rockers GRAND MAGUS will release their seventh album, "Triumph And Power", on January 31, 2014 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to last year's "The Hunt" was recorded with producer Nico Elgstrand and engineer Staffan Karlsson (ARCH ENEMY, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS) at Studio Sweetspot in Halmstad.

The track listing for the CD is as follows:

01. On Hooves Of Gold
02. Steel Versus Steel
03. Fight
04. Triumph And Power
05. Dominator
06. Arv
07. Holmgång
08. The Naked And The Dead
09. Ymer
10. The Hammer Will Bite
11. Blackmoon (bonus track)

Commented the band: "'Triumph And Power' has been completed. It's a metal triumph of Viking power!!!

"Once again we worked with Nico Elgstrand as producer, a tradition that started with 'Hammer Of The North' back in 2010.

"This is our strongest album yet. It has the northern feel, it has the power and the melody that has become our mark of excellence.

"Fans of true metal will take this album to their hearts. To top everything off, we have the striking and epic artwork of Anthony Roberts.

"The album cover perfectly captures the work on this album and GRAND MAGUS as a band."

Hope it's better than their last one. Kind of a snoozer.