RIGORIOUS – Kingdom Unfold

RIGORIOUS - Kingdom Unfold album cover art.
  • 7/10
    RIGORIOUS - Kingdom Unfold - 7/10
7/10

Summary

Label: Metalapolis Records
Release date: January 17th, 2025

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This young band out of Germany has just released their 3rd studio effort, as a follow up to 2023’s full length Night of Retribution:  Rigorious – Kingdom Unfold. The band hit the ground running and since 2021 have shared the stage with the likes of Grave Digger, Brainstorm, Rage, Orden Ogan and Serious Black.

Vocals

Without having the actual lyrics available, the first impression is very much pirate metal from stem to stern. The vocals all have a very merry vibe, as if sung in a heavy metal musical. Vocalist Lukas Remus has a very wide range, and he puts it to considerable use throughout the entire album.

Production

Like the previous album, Kingdom Unfold was again produced, mixed and mastered by GRAVE DIGGER singer Chris Boltendahl at the Graveyard Studio in Cologne. The production is very clean, with very tight arrangements, and lots of intricate orchestrations. The drums do sound very much like a programmed set of sounds than they do a human behind the kit. While it’s impossible to know without firsthand knowledge, the overall sound of them seems to perfect.

Final Notes

RIGORIOUS – Kingdom Unfold has a lot going for it, especially from a young, up and coming act. However, it does come off a bit to theatrical, in the sense of it feels like the soundtrack to a heavy metal musical. The vocals can be too sing-songy at times, and over dramatic. There is a lot of talent here, so the album is worth a listening for those who love the sounds of adventures on the high seas mixed with their heavy metal.

RIGORIOUS - band photo - 2025

Lineup

  • Lukas Remus – Vocals
  • Lukas Famula – Guitar
  • Christopher Blankenaufulland – Guitar
  • Sebastian Kanczok – Bass
  • Paul Reil – Drums
  • Guest Musicians

Kingdom Unfold – Tracklist

  1. Fate Is Sealed
  2. King
  3. Hear Me Out
  4. Bathed In Blood
  5. Midnight
  6. Ignite The Flame
  7. The Wish
  8. The Snake
  9. Into The Sea
  10. To Life
  11. Dreams
  12. Akeldama

Check out the video for “The Snake” by Rigorious off of their new album: Kingdom Unfold

Author

  • Bryce Van Patten

    Bryce is an audio engineer and a graphic designer here at Metal Express Radio. From the day he purchased his first album (Machine Head by Deep Purple), he has had a passion for heavy music, which has influenced his whole life. Bryce is from the great Pacific Northwest in USA, and has played in metal bands like Babylon, Holy Terror, The Wild Dogs, Warhead and Egypt through the 80s. He had his first interview for the Portland, Oregon publication The Rock Rag with guitarist Paul Gilbert in his Racer X days. Then he was honored to get to have drinks, and talk for an hour with the legendary Dan McCafferty of Nazareth for his second interview. In 2013, he spent an amazing hour talking to Andi Deris of Helloween, which was the high point of his heavy metal journalism.   In the year 2001, he formed Man in Black Music Publishing. They released recordings by several local bands, and in the spirit of the old Metal Massacre compilations, he created a 2-album series called The Defenders of Metal. The albums featured classic styled Metal bands from all around the world, with bands from Australia to England, and from Argentina to Russia. Currently, he is the producer/creator/vocalist of the Metal band The Black Tuesdays.

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