Amaranthe – The Catalyst
Amaranthe- The Catalyst
Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 23/02/2024
Running Time: 41:23
Review by Rory Bentley
8/10
Some of you might know that I’m more than a little partial to some great Pop music. In this new age of genre fluidity in which we now live, nobody should ever be ashamed of enjoying whatever they like, and it’s the way it always should have been! Amaranthe get this fact and unlike other Symphonic Metal-adjacent acts, they don’t beat around the bush when injecting massive commercial hooks into their brand of Melodic Metal. They have always gone all in on Electro-tinged, super-camp Euro-Pop regardless of what the sad sack gatekeepers of the Metal scene feel and this latest record sees them doubling the fuck down in spectacular fashion.
“The Catalyst” represents the tightest, most precision-engineered set of Pop Metal bangers the band has produced to date. Not one song breaks the four minute mark but every single one is stuffed with hooks more addictive than The One Ring rolled in Charlie. It’s a really good job that I like the band because I can’t get the ‘ABBA-on-crack’ chorus of ‘Damnation Flame’ out of my head for love nor money. Ditto the massive Euro Dance singalong of ‘Outer Dimensions’, which does a lot of heavy lifting to stop the song descending into Power Metal 2 Unlimited. At this stage of the game Amaranthe have mastered their craft so absolutely that you could bet your house on any one of these 12 songs containing a chorus that a goldfish could sing back to you a week after hearing and you’d have a roof over your head by the second verse.
As always Elize Ryd is the star of the show, bringing power, gravitas and seductive charm to mic, belting out the hits on ‘Liberated’ and basically being a sexy robot on ‘Re-Vision’. Your mileage may vary when it comes to the other two vocalists, and sometimes three really is a crowd, but Elize is the engine that keeps this train on the rails when Nils Molin goes a bit too ham and Power Metal for the super slick, futuristic soundscapes the band create. New boy Mikael Sehlin acquits himself much better across the record, with his percussive harsh vocals sounding much more contemporary than his predecessor and complementing the gnarlier sections of cuts such as the laser-guided stomp of ‘Interference’.
The record thunders along at a relentless pace, with the closest thing to a reprieve coming from the fabulously pompous power ballad ‘Stay A Little While’, which suits Nils’ more traditional Metal stylings down to the ground and lets Elize’s voice truly soar. But after that it’s back to sexy robot Dance Metal before you’ve had time to dry your eyes.
You’re probably going to know if this record’s for you by now, the heady combo of three vocalists battling for space over roided-up Euro Pop and crunching guitars sure isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a long time Amaranthe faithful I can’t see you being disappointed with the tightest set of songs this party loving outfit has produced to date. I for one welcome our sexy robot Metal overlords.
TRACKLISTING:
01. The Catalyst
02. Insatiable
03. Damnation Flame
04. Liberated
05. Re Vision
06. Interference
07. Stay A Little While
08. Ecstacy
09. Breaking the Waves
10. Outer Dimensions
11. Resistance
12. Find Life
13. Fading Like A Flower (cover version)
LINE-UP:
Olof Mörck – guitars, keyboards, synthesisers (2008–present), bass (2008–2009)
Elize Ryd – female clean vocals (2008–present)
Morten Løwe Sørensen – drums (2008–present)
Johan Andreassen – bass (2010–present)
Nils Molin – male clean vocals (2017–present)
Mikael Sehlin – harsh vocals (2023–present)
LINKS:
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