Metal Allegiance – Volume II : Power Drunk Majesty
Review by Adam McCann
Nuclear Blast – 2018 – Heavy/Thrash/Groove Metal
When Metal Allegiance released their excellent debut album back in 2015, the metal world expected this ‘supergroup’ of Mike Portnoy, David Ellefson, Alex Skolnick and Mark Menghi to go beyond this; either there would be a clash of egos, exploding into a cacophony of ‘he said this, he said that’ on Blabbermouth or schedules would not align again for a large length of time, particularly with Ellefson and Skolnick begin tied to Megadeth and Testament respectively. However, fate would deal the heavy metal community a boon for once and the rotating guest vocals of Metal Allegiance would return for a second album ‘Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty’.
Those who bought the band’s debut album will be pleased to know that the formula, style and sound which made the first album so endearing has not changed. Portnoy and co. have once again assembled an excellent plethora of guests and ‘…Power Drunk Majesty’ sees the return of Mastodon’s Troy Sanders for ‘Liars & Thieves’ and Mark Osegueda from Death Angel to add his vocals to the superb ‘Impulse Control’ and part one of epic ‘Power Drunk Majesty’ suite, the end of which features a bassline by Menghi which would make Steve Harris proud.
Unlike the first album, the guest roster for ‘…Power Drunk Majesty’ is much more familiar to classic metalheads and also features guest appearances by Bobby Blitz, John Bush and Max Cavalera. However, for this album the spotlight is turned firmly on Johan Hegg from Amon Amarth for his superb vocal delivery on ‘King With The Paper Crown’ which is easily the best song on the album. Furthermore, the albums opening track ‘The Accuser’ which features Trevor Strnad of Black Dahlia Murder has all the ability to make the listener view the band in a different light with some excellent growls. However, the same cannot be said for Floor Jansen’s performance during part two of the ‘Power Drunk Majesty’ suite which is dull and delivered like Nightwish by numbers.
‘…Power Drunk Majesty’ is extremely fun, the band wholeheartedly sound as if they are enjoying every note, it is a pure example of a 21st century David Ellefson and post Dream Theater Mike Portnoy and definitely worth checking out.
Rating : 86/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
