TUNGSTEN – “The grand inferno” (2024)

I recall listening to the debut of TUNGSTEN not so long ago in 2019. It was not the record that blew me away, but I told myself that there is potential here and I will have them under my radar. To be truthful I omitted to check “Tundra” and “Bliss”, but I came across the single ‘The grand inferno’ and was instantly hooked! The result was me checking all the singles that were released for the album, resulting in the overuse of the repeat button accompanied by an increased anticipation for receiving the full tracklist. For some reason those songs pressed all the right buttons.

Before rushing to the music and since the band is only in the half of their first decade, it would be a good time for some introductions. You may be familiar with drummer Anders Johansson from his years with HAMMERFALL mainly, among many other projects. On the string instrumets we have his two sons, Nick on the guitar and Karl on bass/keyboards. Finalizing the line-up they have chosen Michael Andersson (FULLFORCE, CLOUDSCAPE) for the vocalist position.

“The grand inferno” comes with eleven songs of small to medium duration, with a straightforward and direct structure. While the basis of the music is Power Metal, the band also branches out to other genres such as Industrial/Alternative, as at a point of two I was reminded of the work of TILL LINDEMANN or at others I came across a breakdown with brutal screams (‘Falling apart’). In that regard while the songs are similar in structure, there is variation with the title track being a Power Metal Hymn, ‘ Lullaby’ and ‘Angel eyes’ entering the fields of BEAST IN BLACK, ‘Sound of a violin’ having Symphonic appetites and ‘Vantablack’ being a modern Metal hit.

If the album does one thing great that is having over the top melodies, especially on the vocals with Michael ending up as my favorite aspect of the album. A good voice that instills melodies with the right ingredient to make them spicy while sharing the same energy with his bandmates, I honestly need nothing more. That is also the case with the music. It is not the most technical or innovative thing you have heard but everything sounds good and justified. Take ‘Vantablack’ for instance, a very simple song that if you strip down to its components, you could even call it basic. Then why is it that it ended up as one of the most fun and most-listened tracks I have heard this year? That is what TUNGSTEN nail consistently, they know how to keep your attention and how to create music that will invade your mind without asking and believe me, that’s even harder than it seems.

From the whole album I did not find songs that are uninteresting, only some that I adored deeply and others that I liked, with the majority falling in the first category. If ‘Chaos’ had been my first encounter with “The grand inferno” I may not had ended so much invested, but it is the exception with the rule being hits mostly. Another thing I would like to tell is how listening to it makes me feel good. The mood of the album is uplifting and energetic and if you see some of the videoclips released for it, you will witness a band having fun, something that is channeled to their music and through their music, to me as well.

At this point I will have to separate the objective and the subjective opinion. Subjectively, it clicked all the right buttons and I will most likely include it in my top10 list for the year. Objectively it is a very enjoyable release that you may or not dig. It is of the good ones, but we can give this achievement to so many bands that if you told me TUNGSTEN is not your cup of tea, I would not object. Listen to it because who knows, you might end up agreeing with me in the end. In the meantime I must rectify my negligence and visit their previous two albums that I missed. Never too late to congratulate the Johanssons and Andersson for the status of their band in such a small period of time.

80/100

Pavlos Pavlakis