VEONITY – “The final element” (2024)

The output of Power Metal releases does not hinder in the slightest, as this time it is the turn of the Swedish VEONITY to unleash their 6th Full-Length. With a stable line-up on the music part but a new vocalist on their side, let’s see where “The final element” stands within our beloved genre!

First of all the term Power Metal has become very broad, so let’s narrow down the description in something more specific. The music here is a love letter to the classic and golden era of the genre as it is made clear from the very start! If the “Metal Opera” period of AVANTASIA or bands like GAMMA RAY, HAMMERFALL and HELLOWEEN mean anything to you, then you are in the right place. Songs are fast and bombastic, the intrumental parts are very technical while the whole work expresses a very positive and optimistic feeling. I find vocalist Isak Stenvall to be a good choice as his performance is really in parallel with what the material needs. It is not the voice that will leave its mark and become a reference but we are not searching for this in the slightest.

The tracklist serves us one banger after the other as all songs have the potential of ending up as your favorite, with mine being ‘Kings of dreamland’ because I liked its chorus the most. What I found is that they give a good impression from the start. When I received the promo and before I started listening to the entire album with focus, I teased my self with some segments here and there to get a feeling if I would potentially like the record. Even from the first notes what crossed my mind was that there is something good here that will be worth diving into, which was soon confirmed!

The strength of “The final element” is what will also hold it back. It is one of the albums that if it had released when Power Metal was at its blooming state, when everything was new and fresh, VEONITY would be hailed as kings. Today it recreates a little too faithfully scenes that we have already visited. In that regard, it brings no innovation and surprises to the table, something that makes me question its longevity in my mind.

What the new work of VEONITY lacks in new for the genre ideas, it makes it up by being one hell of a Power Metal record nevertheless. It is very enjoyable and I totally reccomend it. If in the future the group managed to spice up things by adding some new ingredients to bolster (or build) their uniqueness, I could see them rocking some waters and drawing many pairs of ears to them, which would be well deserved to be honest.

75/100

Pavlos Pavlakis