GOLDEN RESURRECTION – Glory To My King

Who says Metal has to be sinister and evil all the time? Golden Resurrection certainly doesn’t. They are a new Christian Metal band on the scene from Sweden. These guys produce a very intense combination of Melodic and Neoclassical Metal to bring forth an exciting and powerful sound. Their debut album Glory To My King is a sermon-filled reminder that a higher power does exist, and just in time as the world celebrates the holiday season.

Golden Resurrection was founded in 2008 by composer, guitarist, and vocalist Tommy Johansson, along with Christian Liljegren who is best known as vocalist of the band Narnia. Both having a huge passion for Melodic, Neoclassical Metal, they joined forces to create Golden Resurrection.

Musically, the masterful guitar work of Johansson drives each track. All of the songs come at you at full speed. Johansson puts a considerable amount of intensity into his playing. His majestic solos are very impressive, although probably not quite up to par with the Neoclassical guru Yngwie J. Malmsteen, and he brings his own style of shredding to the front. This is best exemplified by the powerful and forceful intros and riffs to the title track “Glory To My King” as well as “The Final Day”.

With respect to the vocals of Liljegren, although very passionate and commanding, he seems to lack a significant amount of range that could really put these songs over the top. His vocal style is probably most reminiscent of Primal Fear’s Ralf Scheepers. However, he tends to fall flat when it really counts the most. There are a couple of tracks, however, where Liljegren vocals do stand out. Most notably when he belts out the chorus of the song “The Final Day” and preaches “Oh what a day, when the King returns, Jesus Christ, King of Kings” … there is clearly no lack of passion here, as he makes the listener want to stand up and say “Amen!”

Arguably one of the best tracks on this album is “Proud To Wear The Holy Cross”. This song features a marching rhythm and driving riff that builds up to a great climax during the chorus. This Classic Metal riff is a refreshing change after listening to Johansson’s intensely fast shredding track after track. In fact, one of the downsides to this album is probably the lack of diversity in the songwriting. Johansson seems to get caught up in playing as fast as possible on each track — to the point where it’s overdone. Too many of the tracks seem to have a similar riff and tempo, and it becomes a major turn off.

Overall, Glory To My King is an invigorating effort for a Christian Metal album. However, when all the pieces are put together it comes up a little short. This album does have much to offer for its messages of praise and devotion and there are a few shining moments here and there, however, there’s unfortunately just not enough to keep the curious listener interested. Perhaps with some more depth and penetrating compositions, Golden Resurrection may be one of the bands to watch in the near future.