adg211288 Revelant is the second full-length album from Danish progressive power metal act Forcentury. The album was released in 2012. The band contains a couple of former members of Iron Fire in its line-up, as well as a sixty year old vocalist, Johnn Thunder. No, Forcentury isn’t another one of those bands resurrected from the depths of time; they previously released their debut album Vanguard in 2009, and formed the year before. They just surprisingly have a vocalist from a much different age group than what the rest of the band appears to be from. Just goes to show how metal is for everyone really.

Forcentury have a sound which sits snugly in the progressive power metal genre. You’ve got the speed of power metal and the vocals fit the style best as well but generally there’s a lot more going on musically than a straight up power metal typically has, although Revelant never lacks for the energy that a ‘speed, speed and more speed’ power metal record has. There are symphonic elements to a lesser degree. The opening track Seal of the Sinner will showcase all of these aspects of the Forcentury sound and from that point it will be full steam ahead as the band works their way through another nine equally strong tracks.

I think that despite the very strong power metal elements though Revelant will appeal first and foremost to progressive metal fans. I think that’s because despite the accessibility of Johnn Thunder’s vocals this isn’t exactly sing-along, lyrical hook laden music, as much power metal tends to be, even the harder hitting German stuff like Blind Guardian tends to have choruses which will quickly become addictive. Forcentury’s Revelant doesn’t really have that, which allows for a better focus on all the elements I outlined above.

I suppose you could say that because of that the album may require a little more patience in order to ‘get’, although I must say that this was one release which left a really good first impression, and the positive feeling hasn’t worn off even a little bit with each spin that has followed. This is why I think Revelant’s true appeal will lie with progressive metal fans, although it is most definitely pretty exceptional on the power metal front as well, and if you have any concerns about the age of the singer you should dismiss them at once, as Johnn Thunder sings on par with many metal vocalists forty years his junior, and probably out does most of them at that. Revelant comes highly recommended from me.

91/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/forcentury-revelant-t2736.html))