Majesty's third album, Reign In Glory was released in 2003 and somehow, it seemed to slip through the cracks and not get reviewed here at Metal Reviews. I just picked this up a couple of weeks ago and felt that it should be reviewed as we did their two previous releases. With Keep It True (2000) and Sword And Sorcery (2002), Germany's Majesty started to make a name for themselves on the true metal scene. Sword and Sorcery was their first album for a major label (Massacre Records) and since Reign In Glory, they have toured with U.D.O. as the opening act on their Scandinavian tour and released a live box set Metal Law that contains a 2 CD audio package with a bonus DVD containing a complete live performance. Since Sword And Sorcery, Majesty has recruited guitarist Rolf Munkes to take over guitar duties from lead vocalist/guitarist Tarek Maghary in order that he concentrate totally on singing. Reign In Glory sees a further maturation of the band and combined with the killer production by Stefan Kaufmann (U.D.O., Accept), Majesty has delivered a solid true metal album that although still has some cheese factor (what true metal album doesn't!!), contains some great epic qualities and lots of variety in tempos and styles.

Borrowing from such classic bands as Manowar, Accept, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden as well as newcomers like Hammerfall, Majesty is one of those bands that really defines the term "True Metal". With hammering double bass drums and the speed of Accept's Fast As A Shark, Majesty opens the album with Heavy Metal Battlecry; a speedier version of Manowar and a bit of cheesiness as far as the lyrics but it's a great celebratory track about heavy metal. To The Stadiums is a mid-tempo metal anthem that uses nice guitar harmonies over the slicing power chord attack and it's another heavy metal flag-waver. With a great anthem-like chorus, this track points out the more "street-wise" sense to their music. Sure there's lots of subject matter about epic battles etc. but there's a certain connection to the metal fans that's missing from a lot of other true metal acts. Other album highlights include Defender Of The Brave; a track that combines blinding speed with big slicing power chords and an overall classic Helloween feel. The use of quiet refrains mid-song (a style used on several tracks) adds to the epic quality of this song. Lord Of The Damned builds on a pounding tribal intro into a more plodding Sabbath style for the chorus section. This track has a more ominous tone overall, a more complex arrangement and an absolutely killer rhythm guitar sound reminiscent of the explosive guitar sound of classic Iced Earth. Thunder In The Silence begins with an orchestrated piano segment before getting heavier and is a great epic-like track that has solid melodies and reflects the scene of a warrior on the edge of a classic battle. Another standout track is Heroes; another one that begins with orchestration and piano before galloping rhythms and celtic-flavored harmony lead guitar takes over. There's a different feel and arrangement for this track that's not typical of the true metal genre. The muted Maiden style riffing and solid chorus gives the song a tribute like quality. Other tracks on the album fall more into the typical true metal style with the title track Reign In Glory showing similarities to the first Hammerfall album; The Will Of The Cobra, a more typical German power metal track; Troopers Of Steel; a more mid-tempo Accept influenced song and Falcon In The Storm an attempt at a 10 minute epic that has a big epic chorus and an overall Manowar-like feel.

Lead vocalist Tarek Maghary has a decent voice for this style of music but he has the sort of love it or hate it quality to his vocal delivery that although I like very much, seems to be a sore spot with other people as far as other reviews that I've read for this album. On some of the better and more epic style tracks, his voice is strong and just soars but on a couple of tracks, he seems to deliver for the chorus sections but just goes through the motions for the verses. There's lots of bands playing this style of true metal but Majesty is a notch above many others in sound, songwriting and with a variety of styles, they create a great "epic" feel to their music. The timing of this review couldn't be better as with the new Hammerfall album about to hit the stores, what makes for really great true metal will be a topic of great discussion. From what I've heard of the new Hammerfall, Majesty's Reign In Glory is a far superior true metal album and one that fans of the genre should take note of. The word "filler" rarely comes to mind while listening to this album and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. If Hammerfall is starting to disappoint, try Majesty on for size...............