MUSIC: ROYAL HUNT – Cast In Stone

MUSIC: ROYAL HUNT – Cast In Stone
Northpoint Productions
February 2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 ½ /10

Cast In Stone is Andre Andersen and Royal Hunt’s fourteenth studio album – quite a feat for any band – and it’s made by the same line-up who released Devil’s Dozen in 2015.

This far into their career, Andersen and Co know exactly what a Royal Hunt record should sound like, and Cast In Stone fits the formula nicely. All the boxes get ticked: melodic prog rock, catchy choruses, intricate musicianship, some lightly symphonic metal touches, and superb performances all round. If it’s raw and gritty you’re chasing, you’ll not find it here.

Frontman D C Cooper is in fine form, his clean vocals bringing an epic quality that totally suits Royal Hunt’s music. Things simply weren’t the same when he was away from the band between 1999 and 2011.

From Fistful Of Mercy through to Rest In Peace (only seven tracks here, by the way, stretching out to fifty minutes, so you can bet your bottom dollar that there is some epic noodling going on) the band deliver polished heavy rock and monumental singalongable choruses one after another, before going totally left of centre with the near-Hillbilly Save Me II at the end. It’s an odd departure but one which was strangely welcome after all the sleekness which went before.

Category: CD Reviews