I firmly believe in the saying “You can’t judge a book by its cover”, but when it comes to Royal Jester’s debut album, I’m not sure how one would go about doing so. With a power metal logo, doom metal cover art, and glam rock album title, Night is Young legitimately surprised me when I first played it and was presented with a fruity power metal album. And though this type of power metal (in the vein of bands such as Power Quest) is quite common, the level of quality shown here is certainly not, even if Royal Jester isn’t an original band by any stretch of the imagination.

Royal Jester is a two-years-young band hailing from Sweden, a four man project that shares guitarists with fellow countrymen Reinxeed. They play a fast, melodic, and catchy form of power metal; Night is Young is full of as many uplifting and fistpump-inducing moments as the giants of the genre, and fans of this style of metal will feel as if the album is a love letter to them. The production is absolutely superb; every component is mixed at just the right level, with the guitars crisp and the drumming super punchy (every snare hit is as powerful a gunshot, which I love). Vocal melodies are wonderful, and combined with hokey, endearing lyrics such as “Deep in the night / As the stars shine so bright / I will get my revenge and I’ll make you regret all your crimes", they create an effect that’s bound to make the heart of any cheesy power metal fan swell with pride for the genre.

Royal Jester’s vocalist, Mattias Lindberg, is quite an interesting singer. With his high-pitched voice, he at times sounds like an appropriate power metal vocalist, though at others he sounds like he’d be more suited for a pop-punk band. When he lowers his voice occasionally, the result isn’t pretty – the lower the pitch, the more one gets an impression that he has a bad cold – but overall, Mattias is a competent vocalist. Other than this, the talent is superb all-around, especially from the twin guitar attack of Calle Allard and Christer Viklund, who craft some surprisingly creative riffs and solos throughout Night is Young. Various other stabs at originality are made here, which is evident in the dark tone of Vile Smile and the thrashy riffs of Age of Terror, but when Royal Jester begins to show signs of creativity, they unfortunately lower the quality of their melodies. The best songs here are actually the most straightforward ones; Night is Young, Wings of Tomorrow, and Royal Jester are all fantastic power metal anthems that succeed greatly at what they do.

I was only able to find one other review of Night is Young (from a guy that is both metal and angry) before I went forward with writing my own, and it didn’t have anything good to report, to say the least. The album was hated by this reviewer, citing reasons such as the overly flowery melodies as the cause for his distaste. And yes, Royal Jester is a very easy album to hate by power metal bashers. It essentially represents everything that people dislike about the genre. But the beauty of Night is Young is just that; this is cheesy power metal in its purest, most candy-coated form. Royal Jester writes songs without regards to outsiders of the genre, and has here created an album that is tailor-made for the type of power metal fan that likes things fast and corny. If this type of music appeals to you, click on the handy link below and contribute your money towards these passionate Swedes. They deserve it for their belief in a genre that, sadly, repels more people than it attracts.