Grand Magus: Grand Magus (2001)
My friends at the Music Cartel -- one of the great, dearly-departed doom and stoner rock labels of the early 21st Century -- sent me a review copy of Grand Magus' self-titled debut shortly after it was released, originally through England's Rise Above.
At the time, band leader Janne 'JB' Christoffersson was better, if still barely known, as the lead singer of Michael Amott's own emerging stoner metal outfit, Spiritual Beggars, with whom he would record a couple of records over the next few years.
But none of us knew that JB could also shred on a guitar, let alone lead his own power trio completed by bassist Mats 'Fox' Skinner and drummer Fredrik 'Trisse' Liefvendahl to arguably greater heights, and certainly a longer existence than his other employers.
Recorded at Stockholm's Das Boot studio with Dismember drummer Fred Estby producing, this debut was just good enough to find a home in my record collection, just run-of-the-mill enough to almost miss the cut, after a brief stint in probationary limbo.
Little has changed as I revisit these ten tracks a quarter of a century later, except for some retroactively acquired clarity that enhances the latent promise of Side A efforts like "Gauntlet," "Legion," "Coat of Arms," and the especially powerful "Never Learned."
By contrast, I hear just as many flaws -- or at least a general derivative predictability -- in Side B numbers like "Generator," "Wheel of Time," and "Black Hole," before the immensely heavy "Lodbrok" and "Mountain of Power" arrived to lift the overall batting average.
Mind you, regardless of Grand Magus' qualitative score, there was no ignoring Janne's vocal prowess (rich, soulful, and sometimes reminiscent of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell), let alone his wide-ranging six-string abilities, which would continue to flourish in years ahead.
And we didn't have to wait long, because 2003's aptly-named sophomore album, Monument, energized the group's doom and stoner foundations with a battle-ready suit of armor built of Viking themes and castle metal adventures.
If you have yet to fall under the Grand Magus' spell, might I suggest you start your ritual with that second long-player and perhaps its equally impressive follow-up, Wolf's Return, before circling back to this eponymous introduction, and everything should fall into place.
More Grand Magus: Grand Magus, Monument, Wolf's Return, The Hunt.
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