J-Man Just a year after their debut album, Swedish symphonic power metal act Golden Resurrection have already returned with their sophomore outing. Their debut, Glory to My King, was a decent entrance from the talented act, but their cheesy sound and overtly Christian lyrics left me with a lukewarm reaction. Man With a Mission is unfortunately just "more of the same", and every issue on their debut is just as much of an issue here. Although Golden Resurrection are exceptionally gifted musicians, the compositions still come across as boring cheese-fests bogged down with every clichéd Christian lyric in the book. Fans of cheesy symphonic power metal who like Christian lyrics may want to check this out, but most people can easily pass.

The music on Man With a Mission is very similar to what we heard on Glory to My King. This means power metal with lots of symphonic keyboards, uplifting choruses, and neo-classical shredding portions. Musically, Man With a Mission is overall a decent album. There are a few interesting tracks here and there, but the light atmospheres are cheesy beyond comprehension and, of course, there are the banal choruses that plagued Golden Resurrection's debut as well. The Christian lyrics are the biggest repeat offender on Man With a Mission, though, and they are hackneyed beyond belief - unless you are a devout Christian, these lyrics will probably come across as banal propaganda. A combination of that with the extremely light-hearted, keyboard-driven power metal makes Man With a Mission one hell of a cheesy power metal album that only the biggest fans of the genre will enjoy.

Of course, like the debut, Man With a Mission isn't without its assets. The musicianship and production are both very polished and professional, and there are quite a few interesting neo-classical instrumental portions that show what a talented group Golden Resurrection truly are. It's a shame that their sound is so clichéd and, quite frankly, boring - they do have potential. Even though the quality is similar to that of their debut, I'm going to have to give Man With a Mission a slightly lower score at 2.5 - 3 stars simply because I would've hoped for a more mature and original effort the second time around. Fans of Golden Resurrection, symphonic power metal, and Christian lyrics will want to give this a listen, but the metal world at large can probably pass.

Time Signature Identity in cheese...

Genre: Christian power metal

Golden Resurrection is a Swedish power metal band whose style is quite symphonically inclined and stereotypically Euro-oriented - and this means lots of neoclassicisms, dominant keyboards and, of course, loads and loads of cheese.

Thus, many of the tracks are uptempo and lighthearted, with the guitars and keyboards performing technically advanced and naturally quite impressive playing, and the vocal lines are epic and catchy and, well, big. Golden Resurrection do depart from the conventions of Euro power metal in certain respects - for instance, there are a couple of quite heavy passages every now and then, and the vocals are not operatic or soaring, but have a slightly more raw edge to them. Still, the album is generally very cheesy, and the vocals, while more hard edged, do sound a bit contrived and become slightly annoying in the long run.

Another area where Golden Resurrection differ from a lot of other Euro power metal bands are the lyrics, which do not deal with dungeons, dragons, wizards, magic, epic battles and all that weird and wonderful fantasy stuff. Golden Resurrection's lyrical universe evolves around Christianity-themed lyrics which praise Christian deities, values and lifestyles. And, although I believe that religion is a private matter, I guess that writing lyrics praising the deities you worship is okay - but, on this album, it just comes across as Christian propaganda, and I must admit that I quickly got tired of listening to it.

I could live with the cheesy power metal music and I could live with the ridiculously banal Christian lyrics, but the combination simply puts me off, because it triples the amount of cheese. Still, I can see how the uplifting lyrics of praise, hope and belief in the Christian god suits the already happy-pappy cheesy Euro power metal.

Fans of cheesy power metal like Sonata Arctica, ReinXeed, and the like will probably find this release very appealing - and, power metal-loving Christians around the world should absolutely love it.