20183 keepers
keeper avg .333
Someday I may feel the fourth album is the one where we say they jumped the shark, only time will tell. Being an album of set-pieces meant to be performed live its descriptor goes beyond "concept album" (which it is) to the always-ridiculous-sounding descriptor "rock-opera." Though nowhere near as consistent as its predecessor, the powerful Meliora, it's better if heard as whole, so one meditation on death leads to another; it's just more satisfying to listen to lead single "Rats"***** with its sing-songy introduction "Ashes." "Rats" is as straightforward a Maiden-inspired riff-rocker as you please, with slick harmonies (in the pre-chorus) leading back to the propulsively-chugging main guitar riff. Following is one of the album's only two bummers, the over-fiddle-y and mannered "Faith." The album surprisingly includes two piano ballads (or at least they start that way), "Pro Memoria" and the album-ending "Life Eternal," steering the album further afield stylistically than any previous one. These are hardly the band's best material but they do provide crucial counterpoint to the more conventional rock songs as part of the album's overall concept. On an album of outliers, another is the disco-driven "Dance Macabre"*****, which doubles down on the pop leanings of "Square Hammer" from 2016; it's so catchy I was baffled first time I heard it thinking it was a cover of some New Order song I wasn't familiar with. Somewhat ridiculously the album also includes two instrumentals: The better one, "Miasma"****, evolves smoothly through several hard-rocking movements, though it must be seen live to convey the desired effect, while the other, the nearly six-minute "Helvetesfonster," is part-orchestral, part Elton John. Which leads me to wonder about the possibility that the band's primary songwriter Tobias, erm I mean "A Ghoul Writer," may be running out of ideas; or maybe it's just total commitment to the rock-theater leaning "Ghoul Writer" has always had.
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