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.

The Block Gods Grand Hotel

As soon as I was booked into Gods Grand Hotel, I tried to check out before I had to listen to the vocals again. In all seriousness, the vocals are very well sung; it’s just that they are so very cheesy. Golden Resurrection is a very good in terms of overall sound and the way they play symphonic metal; it’s just that their sound is kind of mainstream, and unoriginal. Also it is very power metal, in the way of drums, guitars and overall sound. Besides that, there are also the vocals, which definitely need some work both for there cheesiness and simplicity.

With lines such as “…You rose from the dead, I’m proud to wear the Holy Cross” and “I am ticked into God’s Grand Hotel, where the music lives forever…”, it’s hard to really get into and enjoy Glory to My King. The first couple of times that I listened to the album I really liked it, but after a while it stated to get old, and pretty cheesy. Beside Christian Liljegren’s voice sounding the same in almost every song, as I said before, the vocals are very cheesy, which detracts a lot from the nice feel of the album. On the good side, the vocals blend very well with the rest of the band, especially the guitars and keyboards.

Talking about musicians, there are many good ones to pick from on this album. The guitars are very good, taking the occasional solo such as the one in “Gods Grand Hotel”, which adds a very nice feel to the album. Also, the keyboards add a nice dimension to this album. They layer nicely with the guitars, but are about a half step lower in the mix, creating very nice texture and flow to the album. The drums are very good, but pretty standard for a power/symphonic metal album. Golden Resurrection has a vey nice sound that comes and goes between certain musical styles that make them sound very much like Symphony X and even Dream Theater in spots, like on the track “Never Look Back”. They have really good drums to open the songs, and then they transfer into a kind of complex drum structure that is very similar to Dream Theater’s, and Christian Liljegren sounds a lot like James Labrie, though not enough to sound like a complete copy.

The production on this album is solid, and I have nothing to say otherwise about it other than that it is very professionally done.

Glory to My King is a pretty good album by Golden Resurrection with very good musicianship for the likes of Tommy Johansson (Guitar and Keyboards) and Olov Andersson (Keyboards). For those who like kind of cheesy power metal, this is for you. Also if you like ReinXeed, which also features Tommy Johansson, than you will enjoy this one, too. AS for me Golden Resurrection’s good album gets 3 stars.

J-Man Metal Praise

Golden Resurrection is another one of those bands where, despite creating above-average music, ended up with an average result. Glory To My King has every ingredient for a successful neo-classical power metal album, and maybe that’s part of the problem. High quality musicianship and enjoyable compositions can only go so far when very little can be distinguished from the sea of modern power metal bands. Add in a few pounds of symphonic power metal cheese and often questionable lyrics, and you have a mediocre result. It’s really a shame that Golden Resurrection’s sound is so run-of-the-mill, because these guys are genuinely fun to listen to. The guitar and keyboard acrobatics are often amazing, the soaring vocals are breathtaking, and the compositions are fun, albeit a bit cliché. Even though I won’t be putting this album on too often in the future, I enjoyed listening to it during the last week.

Golden Resurrection plays a style of neo-classical/symphonic power metal in the vein of Yngwie Malmsteen, Royal Hunt, or even occasionally Helloween. There are also some progressive metal tendencies in the vein of Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and especially Symphony X. Of the 9 tracks on Glory To My King, the best song may very well be the opening, See My Commands, which contains some amazing guitar playing from Tommy Johansson. Never Look Back is another really enjoyable song with some catchy vocal lines. The Final Day is also noteworthy for the terrific playing from all of the musicians. Though the song isn’t great the whole way through, there are surely moments of excellence. The rest of the songs are, for the most part, average power metal tracks. Nothing too out of the ordinary; just fun power metal songs with some great musicianship. The main weakness lies in the lyrics and the more religious-oriented songs. Though I don’t have a problem with religious lyrics on principle, the lyrics on Glory To My King are often boring, cheesy, and even border on banality. Just listen to a song like Proud to Wear the Holy Cross or God’s Grand Hotel to get what I mean. Lyrics like “I wear the Holy Cross; you shed your blood for us; you rose from the dead; I’m proud to wear the Holy Cross” sounds like something I would hear during a sermon at church. Maybe that was their intention, but these aren’t the type of Christian lyrics that intrigue me in any way. They are far too shallow to offer any enjoyment or depth for me. Christian lyrics can be great when done correctly, but I can’t say that the lyrics here are done well. On top of that, a song like Proud to Wear the Holy Cross is pretty trivial and banal from a musical standpoint. The chorus (cheesy lyrics and all) is repeated far too many times throughout the song, and the verses aren’t much better. Though this is really the only throwaway song on the album, it’s enough to sever my enjoyment significantly. Thankfully, the other eight songs are at least decent.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the musicians in Golden Resurrection are great. Guitarist Tommy Johansson often takes the prize, but keyboard player Olov Andersson never ceases to amaze me either.

The production is pretty standard for a power metal album. It sounds commanding and powerful, though there is still some warmth to accommodate the lighter sections. This sound fits Golden Resurrection’s music perfectly, though I wish the drums would be a bit less treble-heavy. It’s a minor complaint, though, and the album overall sounds very professional.

Conclusion:

Glory To My King is a good debut album by Golden Resurrection, but I can’t help thinking that it could’ve been better. If the lyrics were improved, there were a bit less power metal “cheese”, and there were some more originality, I could see myself enjoying Glory To My King much more. Since many of the compositions are great and the musicians are talented, it’s hard not to feel slightly disappointed with the end result. Since the overall level of quality is still high, I’ll give the album 3 solid stars. This is recommended to fans of power metal that are okay with hearing an album that isn’t exactly a revelation to the genre.