Holy warriors are galloping on their steeds of steel while you are duly commanded to raise your volume knobs in their most upright of positions (to ten, I believe, as we can’t all be on the level of Nigel Tufnel). The song list crams titles such as Metalliator, Rebellion Of Steel and Metal Union into your face. The riffs are muscular, the beat hard as iron and the wails high. And I thought I just read about Manowar entering the studio last week, not releasing a new full-length already.

All self-evident quips and insinuations aside, I recall hearing and reading many years ago that since their third album, Germany’s Majesty had broadened their musical scope further from the most blatant mann-owar-isms. If that has been the case 7-10 years ago (and mind you I just actually found out that apparently some record label-related wranglings had made the band change their name to Metalforce for a few years until returning to the moniker of Majesty two years ago, so I may not be the best judge of the band’s past), then boy howdy are they making this titular comeback with familiar, sword-lifting gusto.

Make no mistake, there is no shortage of effort on Thunder Rider. The straight-forward, fist-pumping metal riffage drives hard and the choruses do their best to lift metal hearts to heights not before seen by man or beast. The guitar solo work in Young And Free is actually quite alright, even if this distinction is left to the special edition bonus track. But sometimes one just has to make note that effort alone isn’t enough. The lowest level tunes like Raise The Beast try to chug along with the fiercest of double bass drum attacks but the general interest level it sparks in me is monstrously low. It helps neither the overall quality of the songs or the obvious comparisons that singer Tarek Maghary’s performance sounds like Eric Adams in the throes of some serious pollen allergy symptoms. So relatively strained do the wails get at times. The production values are good but they can only polish so much when the songwriting leaves so much to be desired. Nothing digs into you deeply enough so that you could ignore the nagging thoughts of how often and much better this same style has been already done. All in all, this album is bicep-flexing true metal at its most mediocre.