Thy Majestie - Hastings 1066
Scarlet Records

Ferdi: Thy Majestie’s first CD was unable to excite me much, and this was mainly due to the shallow production and the sloppy song-writing. The new CD Hastings 1066 is about a million times better than its predecessor, though. There are a lot of differences with the first CD. For starters, the Blind Guardian-influences have moved to the background. The band now has more in common with Rhapsody (power, medieval music, bombastic parts) and Virgin Steele (over-produced vocals, classic arrangements, an interest in history and its legends). The music sounds a lot better second time around. This time the band has written real songs with a beginning, a middle and an ending. The production is also worth to be mentioned: not every day do I hear such a rich sounding CD. Both the vocals as well as the choirs and guitars have been recorded on an immense number of tracks, creating the illusion that there’s much more going on this CD than just a Rock band with some instruments. There’s a lot (and I really mean a LOT) of attention paid to the vocals and the choirs, and the band wasn’t exactly short on creativity when they did it. The vocal styles range from Therion-ish choirs, to church-choirs, regular vocals, female vocals, etceteras. Frankly, I’m amazed by the progression that this band made in such a short time. I still think that their first CD was an overrated pile of something not very pleasant. But this CD is highly enjoyable thanks to the strong songs and the great production, which lifts it above the level of so many other bands in this genre. Hence, a justified score over ninety.

Rating: 90/100

http://www.thymajestie.com