SORCERER – Reign Of The Reaper

October 31, 2023 Bryce Van Patten Album Reviews, Reviews 0
SORCERER - Reign Of The Reaper album cover art by Joakim Ericsson.
  • 7/10
    SORCERER - Reign Of The Reaper - 7/10
7/10

Summary

Label: Metal Blade Records
Release date: October 27, 2023

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Just in time for Halloween, Swedish Heavy Metal act Sorcerer have just released their 4th album Reign of the Reaper on Metal Blade Records, and it’s a lot darker and heavier than previous efforts. The follow up to 2020’s Lamenting Of The Innocent, the new album goes deeper into the themes of Satan, demons, witches, and everything mystic and evil.

Making Reign of the Reaper

The band began work on Reign of the Reaper in their home studio in 2022, and the official recording started with the drums at SolnaSound Recording in Stockholm with Mike Wead (King Diamond) assisting. The band continues working Ronnie Björnström for mixing, mastering and engineering as they have on all previous efforts, while Conny Welén is still at the helm for production, and co-writing vocal melodies.

Anders Engberg on working with Conny Welén: “He has been working with us since 2015 and the reunion album In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross. Conny’s contribution to our sound is heard in every song; he is involved in the arrangements and plays all keyboards”

Final Notes

Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper is a very well produced album, with great performances all around. The record has everything you’d want in a mystical, dark themed production, from haunting melodies to virtuoso guitars and powerful vocals. At times Anders Engberg channels Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath), and in fact the album overall does at times echo that era of Black Sabbath, when they were at their moodiest and most wicked. Sorcerer continues to improve, and Reign of the Reaper deserves a listen, and a place in your collection. For fans of King Diamond and Tony Martin era Black Sabbath, you can’t go wrong.

Sorcerer band photo from 2023 by Marieke Verschuren.
Photo: Marieke Verschuren

Lineup

  • Anders Engberg – vocals
  • Kristian Niemann – guitars, backing vocals
  • Peter Hallgren – guitars, backing vocals
  • Justin Biggs – bass, growls
  • Richard Evensand – drums

Reign of the Reaper – Tracklist

  1. Morning Star
  2. Reign of the Reaper
  3. Thy Kingdom Will Come
  4. Eternal Sleep
  5. Curse of Medusa
  6. Unveiling Blasphemy
  7. The Underworld
  8. Break of Dawn

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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