Fourth demo from the band and much, much stronger than previous one. Two first, never heard 'em... But 'Gatecrusher', this is practically ready for album release or something. 'Gatecrusher' is also a runner-up for the best demo of year 2004.

After vocalist Niko Mattila's departure the band has found a very good replacement in 21-year old Riku Turunen. His style is high 'n' loud and quite heavy use of vibration yet never forgetting balls, and Edguy's Tobias Sammet and ex-Helloween singer Michael Kiske are two men who comes to my mind when hearing Riku. Well, both bands are listed in his top 5 favourite albums with Iron Maiden, Stratovarius and Kotipelto, so that style is clearly his favourite one. It's easy to notice, that English isn't Riku's native tongue, but that's not a big problem at all.

New energetic singer brought a lot of energy and the band simply rocks. Force Majeure is high octane heavy metal. Melodic songs are simply much tighter than before, so guys have evolved as composers. And songs are catchy. A lot of melodies, kicking performance and being heavy enough, this is good time music for me. While being energetic, the playing is practically flawless. Cool memorable guitar solos and able rhythm section make it a rollercoaster ride, not "up 'n' down" way, but offering some thrills every now and then. If the music is partly very familiar, it is still enough Force Majeure. Hell, I really hear some aforementioned bands' influences, but hey, you'll be shredding your air-guitar when you're listening to this. Ballsy production job from Nino Laurenne helps a lot.

This demo comes with professionally printed covers and disc, including lyrics. Everybody into melodic heavy metal, try it now. Even though Force Majeure aren't able to present new things into the style they're trampling, when done this well, the band wins hands down. It'd be really weird if they aren't signed soon. Good luck with your debut album, guys!

Reviewed by Lane
12/23/2004 21:33