The Ring - Tales From Midgard

*=Staff's pick	In The Beginning* Gathering Darkness Voices Of The Fallen Kings* Into The Wild Unite Or Fall Malls Of Doom Signs By The Silver Stream The Chase Last Battle* The Escape

Genre	Heavy Metal	Jakob Samuel	Vocals
Tracks	10	Marcus Jidell	Guitar
Runningtime	62 Min.	Pontus Norgren	Guitar
Label	Scarlet Records	P. Norgren, M. Jidell	Bass
Release	07 June 2004	Jakob Samuel	Drums
Country	Sweden	P. Norgren, M. Jidell	Keyboards
Similar artists	Black Sabbath

In the department "music and lyrics based on the "Lord Of The Rings saga", the turn has now come to yet another band to make their entrance on the scene. This time it's a swedish band that has taken the most appropriate name The Ring, and their debut album is called Tales From Midgard (how come these names were not already taken?!). At a first glance at the whole thing I have to admit I felt a bit tired already from the start when I approached this, and feared/expected a highly average release. But I was wrong. Very wrong.

This band consists of 3 well renowed swedish musicians - Jakob Samuel, Pontus Norgren and Marcus Jidell - and that fact brings that extra little touch to this to make it stand out just enough to catch my attention. Musically it can be described as a hybrid of NWOBHM and the german style of heavy/power metal, spice with a spoonful of american heavy metal, mainly when it comes to the riffing. Every now and then there are strong vibes of Black Sabbath, but with a great deal of personality to it instead of just being plain a rip off. It is pretty straight forward and simple riff based metal with a perfect amount of intriguing elements in form of guitar solos and harmonies. Strong refrains, distinct riffing and charismatic vocals in the veins of Dio and Dream Evil, in an attempt to try to make a comparision. From time to time even Ozzy, and with the Black Sabbath smelling riffs there are quite some highlights for the lovers of that era. Check out especially Halls Of Doom for a taster of how that can sound.

The whole spectra from faster, more or less uptempo, songs to the more heavy riff-pumping compositions are being represented here, but apart from a few of the first mentioned kind in the beginning of the album, the latter are the most represented ones. The focus lies on heavyness, moods and straight arrangements rather than speed and what you normally would expect from a band in the genre of making Tolkien inspired music. Double bass drums are only appearing in one song, and that is close to the end in Last Battle and only in short portions.

Their lowest level is high, and the only real criticism I can hand out is projected towards the couple of really slow, epic and half-acustic songs that mainly serve as tempo killers, but luckily they are few. The album loses a bit of its initial tempo and energy in the midsection, but on the other hand the soundpicture takes a more heavier form with a great deal of 70's and 80's bone crushing riffs clad in a modern shape. It also appears to lack one or two of those immediate "hits" at a first glance, but the material and overall listening experience rise to a very enjoyable level if you allow it a few listenings.

Worth to mention is also the fact that Doogie White, previously involved in Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen, makes a guest appearance on this album.

Apperantly this cd is the first part in a trilogy of albums (surprise...), and the rest will deal with the respective episode of the LOTR trilogy. Keep your eyes open for those in the future. I have the feeling this can only grow from here. Without reaching exceptional heights or breaking any new grounds, this is a solid release that was a positive experiance for me and it keeps growing.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	9	7

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy