Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There must be a point at some juncture in Time when the world of Heavy Rock and Metal finally submits to the glaringly obvious statements of intent coming out of the Scandinavian heartlands, the declarations of musical war that beat louder than the wagging tongue of boastful Beowulf as he finds yet another demon spawned monster in which to take on and add to his collection. That the northern European search for distinction in the genre is quite simply at its absolute height of its power, it reigns supreme not through accident or the unwilling of those from other countries to topple it but because it is so infectiously demanding upon the conscious of the adoring fan.

Dynazty’s Titanic Mass is unshakable in its resolve to deliver an album of intensity and concentrated power, it is a power that obliterates with authority, the kind of one that wields it not to punish but to lift others from the space they inhabit and the recognition that they deserve so much better than what surrounds them in the everyday; it is an authority that the listener is willing to grab hold of and allow the muscle to guide them onwards.

A vital cog in the machine that oils itself, the seal of trust between listener and band that must not be broken, all fit the group’s ethos perfectly and as the latest album draws out it is near impossible to believe that they would be the ones to break that scared trust.

Titanic Mass comes out fighting, it bounds out of the corner with hormones pumping, with the steam and snorting bellow of the heavyweight boxer and one with the approach and attitude to match; this is an album that doesn’t allow itself to become distracted or dance on the canvas waiting for the opposition to tire itself out and throw the weak willed punch, it goes straight for the knockout in the first round.

Tracks such as the opening track The Human Paradox, Keys to Paradise, I Want To Live Forever, Free Man’s Anthem and The Smoking Gun allow the album and the group to live up to the heavy weight status and dismiss calmly some of the bands that pretend to be in the same category, who profess that they deserve a shot at the belt; Scandinavia is a place where the testosterone flows and the Rock pounds, Dynazty and Titanic Mass is yet another addition to the names of those who have put it in its rightful place.

Ian D. Hall