The Watchers

The complicated extension of classical music, or the indulgent wankery of guitar freaks? This is the debate that has faced progressive rock since Peter Gabriel was picking out his first kit of face paint. Thirty years later and the new face of prog rock has been carved out of the genre known as power metal. Royal Hunt was one of the first bands to join into this new type of metal, which bears little resemblance to King Crimson but has a lot more in common with Iron Maiden. It is hard to recommend this album for two reasons. First of all, they use keyboards in place of orchestration, which is completely legitimate, except for the fact that the keyboards are produced so they sound thin and obnoxious. Even a little more overdubbing would have greatly improved the keyboard sounds, which are simply ridiculous. This is disheartening considering that the keyboardist, Andre Andersen, is their key songwriter. Secondly, the songs go in so many directions that the album seems like a random collection of hooks held together by the enthusiastic chugging of guitarist Jacob Kjaer. Besides the rip-roaring solos from Kjaer, there is little here to recommend. Royal Hunt is not a bad band, especially considering the genre they are in, but this is the sound of a band spinning their wheels in place.