review by: Roberto Martinelli
History repeats with this reviewer as far as Falconer is concerned. This Swedish traditional/power metal’s first albums, with uncommon singer Mathias Blad, took years to reveal their worth to us. Finally, when we had embraced Falconer’s brilliance, Blad was out.
Falconer’s last record with new singer Kristoffer Göbel was true to form but lacking the voice that had become synonymous with the group. I guess that’s the review of Grime vs. Grandeur in a nutshell.
For returning fans, the new Falconer still has the trademark songwriting of guitarist Stefan Weinerhall, who mixes a folky Celtic metal style with some classical influence and just enough blues scales. Some of the songs really stress the chorus, like opening track "Emotional Skies," resulting in Falconer’s tendency to be a sing along metal record.
The new album is more all over the map than previous ones. You’ve got jokey songs ("Jack the Knife"), anthems ("Emotional Skies"), and straight ahead power metal rumblers ("Purgatory Time"). In the middle of the record, the music turns into Judas Priest, with "The Assailant" and "Power."
At first, this all seems like a hodge-podge; the signature is still there, but the album is scattered and unable to regroup without Blad’s reassuring voice, which will always be the true voice of Falconer. However, multiple spins of this disk reveals it to be compositionally the best Falconer has done to date. And no slagging of Göbel’s voice is warranted: he’s a fine singer who objectively does more with his talents than Blad did on his recordings, it’s just that Blad has untouchable personality.
Finally, although Falconer’s most satisfying albums have already been done, Grime vs. Grandeur is a fine album that improves with age and familiarity to ulimately become one that you want to play over and again. True to Falconer form. Now we’re going to go dust off our copy of The Sceptre of Deception, Göbel’s debut, as we’re sure Falconer can weave its peculiar magic with us on that one, too. (8/10)
