Silent Company

It's been a couple of years since I reviewed Black Majesty's debut album, The Sands Of Time. A fine effort, I was very impressed by the quality and musicianship of this power metal band but I was especially impressed with vocalist John Cavaliere. They had better chain this guy to a table somewhere as any established power metal band, who might be looking for a solid lead vocalist in the future would scoop him up in an instant. During the recording of Silent Company, their second album, John's father passed away and this new album is dedicated to him. His spirit is in a sense keeping "silent company" over John and the rest of Black Majesty. Having recently completed some shows opening for Edguy and Hammerfall, they are getting some much needed exposure outside of their home country of Australia. Silent Company was produced the band's keyboardist Endel Rivers with some help by veteran producer/guitarist Piet Sielk (Iron Saviour, Savage Circus) in the recording of the drums. It also marks a bit of a shift in sound away from the heavier U.S. power metal style in favour of a more Kamelot-like rich melodic power metal.

Right from the first track, Dragon Reborn, the attention to melody with respect to both the vocals and the guitars is quite evident. Speedy and orchestrated power metal is mixed with galloping rhythms and Boston-like vocal melodies. This style continues with the title track, Silent Company which shows the Kamelot style of melodic power metal that's very prominent throughout the entire album. Catchy vocal melodies and harmonic lead guitars over galloping rhythms make for a very killer track indeed! Included with this new album is a remake of a classic Australian hit song from 1978 entitled Six Ribbons that was originally done by John Rivers. With a traditional folk like feel, this version gets the power ballad treatment complete with a duet between John Cavaliere and Susie Goritchan. Tracks like Firestorm, New Horizons and Darkened Room see the kind of passionate and dramatic vocal approach that's very reminiscent of Kamelot's Roy Khan and musically ranges from speedy and charging up tempo power metal to a mix of acoustic and heavy passages; all coming together in great unison. Visionary and Never Surrender feature more speedier power metal with thematic guitars and keyboard riffs that culminate in some very tasty harmonized lead duets between the two instruments. The album finishes with A Better Way To Die, a more atmospheric style of track and shows the bands penchant for older Warning era Queensryche. The Queensryche feel mixed with soaring guitar harmonies over a galloping backing track work very well.

A little more polished than Sands Of Time, the vocals of John Cavaliere continue to be the strongest asset of this band. Musically, there's very little to find any sort of fault with. These guys are very talented individuals who will soon be competing on the global power metal scene. The song writing is solid, the guitar riffs are strong, prominent and are a tad heavier than many others in the melodic power metal genre. The strong attention to melody both with the vocals and the guitars really does cause the band to venture more often than not into Kamelot territory and if you like Kamelot, you'll definitely like Black Majesty. Silent Company flows very nicely and is a very good power metal album and I would recommend it any power metal fan. Although the songs are solid, personally I feel that there are just not enough tracks that stand out above the rest. This album suffers from a sort of "sameness" whereby after 4 or 5 tracks, they don't really offer anything new as far as the types of songs and arrangements. Definitely a winner for the band in their homeland of Australia, they have to up the ante a bit and come up with a more unique and characteristic sound in order to compete on a global scale with the countless other power metal bands out there. They have the skills and all the tools to do so and since their label signed them to a five album deal, they will have lots of time to mature into a top notch power metal band along the likes of Kamelot. It's really only a matter of time........