We’ve been telling you about Falconer and how great it is for a while now. Frankly, it took us about two years to figure that out for ourselves. What seemed like such generic and bland power metal at first revealed itself to be just the opposite. But right when we realized the brilliance of Falconer, the band goes and changes singer. According to band leader Stefan Weinerhall in his interview with Maelstrom, Falconer could not tour as much as it wanted to with its original front man, so they needed to find a replacement.

All Falconer fans can breathe a sigh of relief that The Sceptre of Deception is no disappointment. As long as Weinerhall is in the band, Falconer will remain the entity we’ve come to love. As before, you’ll hear music that sounds like 70s hard rock bands playing at a  Renaissance Faire, sped up and power metallized. The melody lines and music are entirely in the same vein as the first two albums. If the term "gay" is meant to reflect images of prancing about in a sissy, medieval, lute-toting bard fashion, but doing it in a way that’s very metal, then Falconer is right up there, and bless them for it.

But how is the new singer, Kristoffer Göbel? Well, he’s quite good, but he’s not as good as the man he replaces, Mathias Blad (who does make an appearance on this record). Blad’s golden throated singing was THE voice of Falconer. Göbel sounds quite a bit like him, but much less like a traveling minstrel, complete with tights and quaint booties with bells attached to them – like the metal Master Thespian.

So Falconer’s sound is as intact as you could hope considering the vocal change. But there is a vocal change, and because of it, The Sceptre... isn’t as good as the first two records – simple as that. Also, the title track to this record errs on repeating the sub-par chorus far too many times, and gets stuck in your head in an annoying way. But regardless, there’s no mistaking this record for being a Falconer one, and fans new and old can buy it without hesitation. And who knows? Maybe Göbel will grow on us just like Falconer did. (8.2/10)