Metal concept albums aren’t exactly few and far between and Norway’s Galar try very hard with De Gjenlevende to stand apart from the rest of the pack.
Sadly, the record doesn’t hit as hard as they want, or have the emotional punch that you’d expect from an album that speaks of the depths of winter and its harshness, and then of return of the sun and, in turn, hope for the future. It should be a work with huge peaks and valleys but alas, De Gjenlevende never leaves the realm of the average.
There are moments of grandeur, with opener De Gjenlevende powering forward on huge guitars and a vocal approach that plays a harsh voice against a gorgeous clean vocal in order to portray the darkness and the light found within the lyrical concepts, but it’s not quite enough to keep the interest piqued, and subsequent tracks lose the momentum that the first has.
While Galar certainly have the right ideas, it’s a shame that the execution brings nothing of note to the proverbial table and De Gjenlevende suffers greatly from that./o:p
