Grand Magus
Monument

A somewhat flashy name for this Swedish trio from Stockholm, who, riding the wave of success of their fellow countrymen Spiritual Beggars, have created a sound that has many points of contact with the aforementioned band: the same band in which the singer JB Christoffersson, leader of Grand Magus, played from 2001 to 2005.

Why are these two groups often compared? Beyond a 2001 split entitled "It's over," what unites these two realities is the musical genre. Both, in fact, started with stoner rock, although the SB did it years earlier and in a different way: the stoner of Grand Magus has entirely unusual characteristics. The "desert music" is combined in Christofferson's Nordic conception with a rocky heavy metal, born from the martial and powerful rhythms of the viking, the quintessential subgenre (along with black) of the entire Scandinavian metal scene.

This singular choice, to combine two seemingly opposite ways of interpreting heavy rock, then took a different path in the artistic journey of the Swedish trio: starting from "Iron Will" onwards, but already partly with "Wolf's Return," the GM sound has become heavier, moving much closer to heavy/viking/doom, partly abandoning the desert reminiscences.

In this musical journey, "Monument" comes right after the self-titled debut: it follows a CD that had thrilled for its "vintage" soul and for that unusual yet successful sound combination. Matching the success of the first work was no small feat, but "Monument" is the right path in this world halfway between the searing heat of the desert and the icy cold of the remote Scandinavian lands. Already the opening "Ulvaskall" contains these two different "landscapes": the beginning evokes the untouched environment of the Swedish winter, until the bursting of Christofferson's six-string, with Kyussian and Sabbathian echoes. The song's pathos is palpable, also well present in the following "Summer Solstice," another epic and well-conceived piece. These characteristics flow through the entire CD, always aware of the strength of its stoner/doom and careful not to spill over into overly complex and self-referential compositions. Special mention for "Baptised in Fire," a rocky and disorienting yet evocative song with its "folksy" ending, referencing the cold landscape of the Norman ancestors, for better or worse present both in the lyrics and the atmosphere of this "Monument."

A "real" album, in its simplicity, in its non-trivial charm, in the successful choice of multilevel integration of different genres. The overall result is convincing and multifaceted, deserving more attention from a "critique" too eager to label in a prejudicial way.

1. "Ulvaskall (Vargr)" (5:45)
2. "Summer Solstice" (3:58)
3. "Brotherhood Of Sleep" (5:40)
4. "Baptised In Fire" (8:11)
5. "Chooser Of The Slain (Valfader)" (5:18)
6. "Food Of The Gods" (4:21)
7. "He Who Seeks Shall Find" (10:29)