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Old 07-27-2011, 01:37 PM   #98 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Long live the King --- Narnia --- 1999 (Nuclear Blast)


Christian rock bands, huh? Definitely not my cup of tea. Normally. I don't profess to being a practicing Christian --- I do my best to be a good person, but I don't swear allegiance to any god, and definitely not to any religion, least of all catholicism. So when I hear a band who make a living praising God in their lyrics, I usually run the other way. I would think I'm not alone in this. Were God (assuming, for the moment, that He exists) to walk in to the Rock and Metal Pub and order a beer, I don't think too many of us would be sitting at the bar with him. We're used to more, shall we say, dark elements making up our rock and metal music. I was brought up on the likes of Maiden, Sabbath, Dio and Whitesnake, and hey, even Manowar, and these guys seldom mentioned the G word: usually their lyrics and images paid homage (jokingly, loosely or in some cases --- Venom I'm looking at YOU! --- seriously) to t'other side. Hey, as AC/DC told us once: Hell ain't a bad place to be!

Well, it probably is, but let's be honest: there was and is much more fun to be had singing about the Devil and Hell and damnation and flames and demons, than there ever was extolling the virtues of Heaven, angels, choirs and Jesus. It's just how it is. And bands who decided to throw their lot in with the Almighty tended, in the main, to get laughed at, and not considered by serious metal fans.

Well, all that changed for me when I heard Narnia for the first time.

To be perfectly honest, I just thought they were another metal band, and the Narnia in their name referred to the CS Lewis books (which it does), but then, examining those a little more closely, the books are very heavily slanted on the side of Christianity, in a way other fantasy novels are not. So when I first heard “Gates of Cair Paravel”, the short introductory opening track to “Long live the King”, I was impressed. Great keyboard work, cool guitars, solid drumming. This is going to be a good album, I thought.

And I wasn't wrong, though I would have to seriously change my entrenched opinions, as it happened.

“Living water” kicks off then, and it's a humdinger, a great metal track that would not be out of place on any Iron Maiden or Van Halen album. It's only when vocalist Christian Lijegren sings ”I met Jesus Christ/ He's the Son of God” that I did a doubletake. Oh no! These guys were CHRISTIAN ROCKERS, or indeed, worse, Christian Metallers! But wait, don't turn off that track yet. What's that incredible guitar and keyboard solo going on as I try to process this new information? Holy ****, that's good! So maybe it's a Christian song, but maybe it's just this one. Let's wait and see. Man, that track is power metal at its very best! For God-botherers, these guys are amazing! So let's stick with it. For now.

Oh yes, this is much more like it! A stomper, cruncher, thumper, call it what you will, but the power of “Shelter through the pain” can't be denied. Just listen to guitarist Carljohan Grimmark play --- oh no! What was that Lijegren sang? ”Lord give me shelter/ Every night, every morning.” Maybe it's just a generic “lord”. But no, there he goes again: ”Oh my Lord/ From Heaven above.” Nope, it's definitely the Lord he's talking about!

Okay, so now many of you are probably saying, what's the big deal? If the music is good, what does it matter that the lyrics praise God? To be honest, you're right, but at the time I really struggled to continue with the album, as, being a non-believer, I don't like to listen to the opinion of others --- well, I don't like to be pushed towards the view of others; you know, the old conversion idea --- on religion and gods, especially through music. That's not why I listen to rock music. But in the end, the pure quality of the music won through, and I defeated my demons (see what I did there?) and went on to thoroughly enjoy this album.

So, differences settled then, there is no praise high enough for this band, and this album, the only one of theirs I've so far heard, though I have the rest of their discography to listen to. The musicianship is first rate, with excellent keys work by Martin Claesson, and the stupendous guitar work of the aforementioned Grimmark. It's kind of like listening to one of those eighties heavy metal albums we used all to love, stuffed with squealing guitar solos and thundering drums, powerful vocals and a keyboard player who sounds like he has been taking lessons from Rick Wakeman!

“The Mission” is a little less impressive, a little ordinary, but “What you give is what you get” pulls things back on track. It's kind of hard for me to evaluate the lyrics, as they're pretty much all of the “repent-and-be-saved” ilk, which makes them both samey and unimaginative, and also outside my experience, and I feel unqualified to pass judgement (no pun intended!) on them. The rhymes are a little obvious though, and I would certainly say that, even my own preconceptions and problems with them aside, the lyrics are the weak point of Narnia's formidable arsenal. Of course, if you're into this sort of thing you'll probably love it, but I would rather hear songs about cars, battles, love, even mystical rainbows to weird lands than repeated warnings that I'm going to go to Hell.

I suppose it's a measure of just how good this album is that I'm prepared to champion Narnia's cause, despite my aversion to their lyrical content. But it is that good, you just can't avoid it. That's not to say of course that every track is excellent, but as a pure metal album this really works as a cohesive unit. “The lost son” is a good solid rocker, with drummer Andreas Johansson really getting to express himself, and the title cut is a bombastic, storming brute of a track, with growling guitars and heavy, powerful drumming as Lijegren affirms his fealty to God's cause: ”I wanna live, wanna fight/ Yeah long live the King.”

In all fairness, Narnia are not constantly trying to ram God down your throat, just staying true to their own beliefs, and it's only “Dangerous game” that comes across as almost unendurably preachy, as Lijegren warns of the dangers of turning away from God: ”Dangerous game/ You're playing with your soul/ Devil's game/ You're under his control.” Rrrighttt.... Annoyingly, it's one of the best tracks on the album, with a really cool harpsichord-type intro and then careening along at breakneck pace, with the obligatory guitar solo from Grimmark, and some fine, ferocious drumming from Johansson. Damn! They almost make you WANT to turn to God! Who said heavy metal is the Devil's music?

“Star over Bethlehem”, the longest track on the album, unsurprisingly celebrates the birth of Jesus, on the back of a heavy drumbeat, choral organ and whirring guitar, and there's no doubt as he sings that Christian Lijegren means every word. ”I see the world with different eyes/ The Son of God has changed my life/ He is salvation.” You can't deny, listening to it, that it's a real metal epic, one of those heavy crunchers that just marches along like an unstoppable army.There's a real sense of majesty, power and indeed awe about the song as it flips the finger at Satan, and yeah, I can see rockers punching the air to this, either unaware or uncaring what the message in the song is.

A nice little medieval-type outro called “Shadowlands” closes the album. I guess it brackets the album between it and the opener, “Gates of Cair Paravel”. It finishes the album on a lower key note than I would have preferred, but it seems oddly appropriate, somehow.

I guess the real lesson learned here is that the music is its own power. It doesn't really matter what the singer is singing about, if you enjoy the musicianship and the arrangements, the solos and the intros and the outros. I learned this with the music of Josh Groban, some years ago. Half the time I didn't understand what he was singing --- or even in what language --- but I loved his music, and grew to really love the songs. So my advice here is similar: ignore the lyrics if you can/will, or let them wash over you and hey, maybe they'll change your life. Me, I can now easily listen to this album without worrying about the religious side of it, but it took a little internal struggle for me to get there. It may not take you as long, or you may not have that struggle, but if you do, please do your best to persevere, as it really is worth it.

I feel like saying now, having listened to the album, “Glory Hallelujah, I have seen the light!” I haven't, but I feel like saying it. Considering I was thinking of not listening to the whole album originally, I think I've come a long way.

Long live the King. If he exists. Maybe.

TRACKLISTING

1. Gates of Cair Paravel
2. Living water
3. Shelter from the pain
4. The Mission
5. What you give is what you get
6. The lost son
7. Long live the King
8. Dangerous game
9. Star over Bethlehem
10. Shadowlands
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Last edited by Trollheart; 10-25-2019 at 07:14 PM.
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