SORCERER-The Crowning Of The Fire King

Metal Blade Records

Yet again it is all happening in Sweden. After reuniting in 2010 and releasing the CD ‘In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross’ in 2015 Swedish magicians Sorcerer are back with ‘The Crowning Of The Fire King’. Singer Anders Engberg, the guitarists Kristian Niemann and Peter Hallgren and bass player Johnny Hagel are the core of the band, for this CD they received assistance from drummer Lars Skold and keyboardist Conny Welen (also co-produced the record together with Sorcerer). The epic doom metal that Sorcerer plays is mixed up with some heavy metal influences as well making the band sound just massive! This is a record with long epic songs that could have been penned by Swedish doom master Leif Edling or maybe even Tony Iommi! The main ingredient that this kind of music needs is a VOICE! And Sorcerer has Anders Engberg, the man with the VOICE! This dude really steals the show on ‘The Crowning Of The Fire King’ like Tony Martin did on the Black Sabbath albums ‘The Eternal Idol’, ‘Tyr’ or ‘Headless Cross’. And I think that the ultimate singer of all Mister Ronnie James Dio will smile from heaven above when he hears Sorcerer. Yes, that is how good Anders Engberg is on songs like ,,Ship Of Doom’’, ,,Unbearable Sorrow’’, ,,The Devil’s Incubus’’, ,,Sirens’’ and ,,Abandoned By The Gods’’. Heavy, clear and dark, sometimes mystic and blessed with a huge reach and still at any moment accessible and the same thing goes for the songs and the music. Not one weak moment can be discovered on this CD, even the subtle instrumental track ,,Nattvaka’’ is a winner. A big plus is also the powerful production and the really exquisite guitar cocktails and riffs that Niemann and Hallgren fire around. For me this is better than Edling’s latest band The Doomsday Kingdom and this matches the best work of Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Krux and Saint Vitus with ease and even (dare I say it) the level of Black Sabbath is as good as matched! Definitely a must for fans of epic doom metal and traditional heavy metal. What a blast!