Kev Rowland I must say that the album cover looks better the smaller it is, as when it is a reasonable size it looks like a very poor cut and paste affair – just as well that the music more than makes up for it. Black Majesty have long been seen as one of Australia’s top power metal bands, and here on their seventh studio album they show exactly why they are regarded in that fashion. They have obviously been heavily influenced by the likes of Angra and Helloween, never a bad thing in my book, and musically the guys are hitting it out of the park. The rhythm section powers it along, which allows the twin guitarists to duet, solo or crunch as the need arises. Where it suffers for me is with the vocals. John "Gio" Cavaliere has been there since the very beginning, and has quite some reputation, but there is the impression that he is struggling here. There are times when he seems to be somewhat out of sync with the rest of the guys, and this isn’t helped by a production that has kept him towards the rear of the sound, which I don’t understand at all. That he can still hit the notes is never in doubt, it’s just that at times the band just doesn’t sound like a complete unit.

That isn’t always the case however, and songs such as “Hideaway” shows a band that is firing on all cylinders (although the vocals are still too low in the mix). All in all, this is a real hit and miss album, which isn’t what one would expect from a band that have been strutting their stuff on the world stage for as long as they have. This just isn’t consistent enough for me, although pure power metal fans may well disagree.

adg211288 Stargazer is the fifth full-length album by Australian melodic power metal act Black Majesty. The album was released in 2012. The release of Stargazer continues the band’s run of releasing an album roughly every two years, the one exception to their regularity being the gap between Tomorrowland (2007) and In Your Honour (2010). Stargazer is actually the first album by Black Majesty I’ve heard in its entirety but I’ve been aware of the group for awhile, although for all intents and purposes I have to take a newcomer perspective in reviewing this album.

Stargazer is a fairly typical power metal effort, so there isn’t really anything here than hasn’t been done before, just power metal’s fast guitar riffs, plenty of melody, including a large helping of twin lead guitar lines, and a generally epic sound, but without getting into symphonic territory. Keyboards are present, but Black Majesty never lets them take control of their music, preferring a classic metal guitar driven setup. Bands like Black Majesty represent the less cheesy side of the power metal genre, and they are damn good at what they do.

That said Stargazer isn’t the most remarkable power metal album going, but it is a good example of how to play the genre pretty much by the book. There’s really no reason for any power metal fan not to like an album like Stargazer, although I must say that a wonder or two may have been worked if the vocals of John "Gio" Cavaliere had just a bit more strength to them. He’s got a pleasant enough voice but he isn’t quite putting on the show that the epic power metal like Black Majesty play demands.

Also with so many bands playing the genre these days I think things have reached the point where just being a fine example of what the genre can offer isn’t really enough to make an album recommendable. I’m left feeling nothing but positive feelings for Stargazer save for those vocal issues, but it isn’t an album I’d feel inclined to return to in a hurry because while decent enough it just doesn’t stand out as anything special and there simply aren’t enough highlights for the by the book approach to not matter so much. Journey to the Soul and the title track are the best on offer here but with most of the album not reaching the standard of those two tracks Stargazer is an album that runs the risk of being lost in the crowd.

But as I said, this was the first album by Black Majesty I heard in full and for all I know they may well have produced superior albums in their previous four releases, so Stargazer may just be a bit of a blip that has them not at their best. Should I hear one of their older releases in the future I may revisit this review to either confirm or reject that theory. However I’ve never been one to down rate an artist’s work just because they don’t break the mould and Black Majesty did enough things right on Stargazer that I’m sure if you’ve liked the band previously Stargazer will be a satisfactory release. For me though this is a good, but not quite a great album, which unfortunately had diminishing returns due to the lack of real highlights.

74/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Time Signature Further than insane...

Genre: power metal

Yes, this is power metal, and it's the epic kind of power metal... and it's got keyboards and a slightly polished production. Still, Black Majesty manage to deliver power metal with beef and chili ketchup but no extra cheese.

Here, the guitar is everything. It's the dominant instrument, like it should be in all things metal. And there are plenty of twin lead guitar harmonies, which I have a weak spot for,

I really like how Black Majesty openly and unashamedly draw on good old traditional heavy metal like Maiden and Accept - just check out tracks like "End of Time" and the mighty "God of War", which, with its changes and twin leads, is my favorite track on "In Your Honour", and other noteworthy tracks are "Far Beyond", "Millennium" and "Further than Insane", all of which contain really catchy choruses and other hooklines,

Recommended as a Christmas present to all power metal fans.