| Jag Panzer “The Forth Judgement” Century Media , 1997 Lord Pale : U.S. power metal , featuring violins , occasional keyboards , and more heavy straight forward riffs than most power metal bands use . This was their come back album after they split up for some time . The lyrics stay well away from the fantasy cheese that hampers many of Europe’s power metal acts , instead focusing on more modern themes like terrorism and despair which is demonstrated in the art work on the album which consists of a computer generated scene of a man on his knees before a set of gates ( as opposed to a dragon or the like ) .This is a well rounded album , with plenty of variation between tracks to keep it interesting . The guitar work is simple for the most part until they break into a solo which Jag Panzer do so well . Harry “the tyrant” Conklin sings across the spectrum of high and low power metal vocals throughout the album keeping it from getting boring when playing the whole album through . By no means a necessary purchase . Favourite Tracks – Judgement Day ; Future Shock ; Ready to Strike Mark – 7/10 SECOND OPINION Gloon : Old style metal, average effort. Favourite Tracks – Despair, Sonnet of Sorrow Mark – 6.5/10 Jag Panzer “The Age Of Mastery” Century Media , 1998 Lord Pale : The U.S. power metal acts second offering since their reformation . Similar to “The Forth Judgement” only better . Now introducing choir chants to their repertoire of violins and keyboards , this adds more flavour to their songs . Opener “Iron Eagle” has possibly their best solo so far right in the middle of it lasting for around 2 mins but not interfering with the riffs changing in the background . The song writing on this album is much stronger than that on “The Forth Judgement” , but like that album each song is well placed ensuring that you will listen to this album till the end . Seemingly less heavy than their last outing , “The Age Of Mastery” is more power metal orientated . The closer “The Moors” is an epic about excalibur with very Manowar sounding backing choirs and some inspirational keyboard passages lending it a very medieval sound to end a strong album . Favourite Tracks – Iron Eagle ; Take This Pain Away ; The Moors Mark – 7.5/10 SECOND OPINION Gloon : At times brilliant, at times cheesy. Still Jag’s best all round effort. Favourite Tracks – Iron Eagle, Twilight Years, The Moors Mark – 7.5/10 Jag Panzer “Thane To The Throne” Century Media , 2000 Lord Pale : Always evolving U.S. power metal legends Jag Panzer return with a 17 song theme album based on Shakesphere’s “Macbeth” . Including 5 musicals varying from acoustic guitar melodies through bells with haunting chanting aka “Requiem For Lady Macbeth” to violin tracks . This album focuses on more straight forward heavy guitar work than on previous releases , but all the trade mark solos are still here in spades . There is some Blind Guardian like choirs permeating throughout as on the excellent “Three Voices Of Fate” and even some female vocals to be heard in the mix . This is easily Jag Panzer’s strongest release so far and their isn’t any real filler tracks on the album . Certainly the lyrics can be a little amusing at first , but once this is overcome the album continues to grow on the listener . The keyboards used on previous releases are now sometimes used to highlight a songs verse as demonstrated on “Hell To Pay” , and it is easily to see that their song writing skills have greatly improved . Favourite Tracks – Three Voices of Fate ; Thane Of Cawdor ; Face Of Fear Mark – 8/10 SECOND OPINION Gloon : Concept Album, don’t particularly like these, still a pretty grouse effort. A cross between 80’s Metallica and a bit of 90’s Blind Guardian. Favourite Tracks – Thane of Cawdor, Three Voices of Fate, Face of Fear Mark – 7/10 Jag Panzer "Mechanized Warfare" Century Media , 2001 Lord Pale : The Panzer team have returned with their hardest hitting record since reforming ., progressing further into the realms that 'Thane to the Throne' took them . The guitars are heavier and more thrashy whilst still retaining the technical powermetal flourishes that they are renown for . All the choirs and violins are still in there , although used more sparingly than in the last record . Along with the sound , the lyrics are also getting more serious and darker , fitting in with the excellent artwork and cover . The song writing is getting increasingly better and their aren't any of those 'dodgy' songs that make you cringe on Mechanized Warfare like there has been on previous releases . Harry Conklins vocals are in top form as always , and the new vocal melodies he uses fit in well with the softer parts of the guitar work for a majority of the albums chorus' . Jag Panzer are the hardest powermetal band currently around , long live true metal ! Favorite Tracks - Cold Is The Blade , Take To The Sky , Unworthy Mark - 8/10 Jag Panzer ‘Decade Of The Nail-Spiked Bat’ Century Media , 2003 Lord Pale: The new Panzer opus comes in the form of a double cd of older material/rarities that have been rerecorded and in some cases reinvented. Before I start, I must admit that I have two problems with this release: Firstly the artwork and secondly the lack of a decent production/mixing. To me it seems intelligent to update the material and artwork if you are going to rerecord it but the Jag boys seem to have gone for an 80’s style production and dredged up an unused album cover painting. Of the 20 songs presented a good 10 of them could half of them could have easily been omitted for being ‘average’, then perhaps the remaining 10 with a couple of new tracks, on a single cd, would have been a better idea? Anyway, Decade Of The Nail-Spiked Bat is an interesting look at the bands past and a cheesy fist banging album influenced by the likes of Iron Maiden, Accept, and Dio. Overall a good release that with a bit more time and thought could have been a lot better. Favourite Tracks – Eyes Of The Night , Symphony Of Terror , Reign Of The Tyrants Mark – 7/10 Jag Panzer ‘Casting the Stones’ Century Media, 2004 Tyrant: Casting the Stones, Jag Panzer’s sixth album since reforming, finally sees the band maturing into a more consistent and quality outfit. Gone are the fancy choirs and medieval influences leaving us with a stripped back album that relies more one melody and traditional heavy song writing to carry it through …and thankfully it worked. Picking standout tracks is made hard due to the high standard across the album but two immediate favourites were ‘Starlight’s Fury’ with its spacey lyrics, twinkly of kilter pianos and heavy thumping riffs, and ‘The Mission’ with its catchy choir chorus and well timed galloping riffs. In comparison to their back catalogue Casting The Stones shares most in common with Mechanized Warfare, and if you strip that album back and add in a wider variety of metal influences and better song writing then you can get a picture of what it sounds like. Overall Jag’s most complete and compelling work to date. Favourite Tracks – Starlight’s Fury ; The Mission ; Tempest Mark – 8.5/10 |
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