Tungsten - "The Grand Inferno"
An omen of good things to come
Tungsten is a Swedish Power Metal group founded by ex-Hammerfall1 drummer Anders Johansson and his two sons, Karl (bass, keyboards, harsh vox) and Nick (guitar) Johansson. Rounding out the four-piece is Mike Andersson on (clean) vocals.
Reportedly, Johansson heard the music his sons were creating and leapt in to support them, making it a family affair.
Which is just…so fucking wholesome.
I discovered Tungsten in 2022 with their third album, Bliss.2 On that album, and potentially on their earlier efforts, Tungsten incorporated a lot of Symphonic elements which provided a solidly heavy, but very melodic sound. Here on The Grand Inferno, the Symphonic elements have stepped back slightly, and much of that weight is being pulled instead by an Industrial foundation. This helps to further define their sound, placing them somewhere between Nightwish and Rammstein.3 Other influences can be heard at various points, as well, such as the intro to “Blood of the Kings” which sounds like Jorn-era Masterplan, which just gets me hyped; Andersson’s vocals are, frankly, strongly reminiscent of Jorn Lande on pretty much any legato note he bellows.4 I consider this a positive.
The album definitely puts its best foot forward with opening track “Anger”, which hits hard and absolutely needs to be blasted. I genuinely love the harsh vox on this track. I don’t say that often.
I also have to mention “Lullaby”, which is basically a metal version of “Hush Little Baby”. And I hate that I like it. They even interpolate the melody, which is rage-inducing…and yet…I find myself bopping along, anyhow. It’s also repetitive, so the negatives outweigh everything else on this track, so I see this as a blip in the album’s strong run of early tracks. But still.
After “Falling Apart”, the album’s incredible fifth track, the next truly solid song is “Chaos”, which comes after a trio of forgettable-to-middling tracks. This is in spite of the vocal production element on “Chaos” which, ultimately, sounds like the band recruited a Metal-ass crow for a guest vocalist (“Caw! Ca-ca-ca-caw!”).
Ultimately, this album feels like a step forward for Tungsten; closing track “Angel Eyes” goes a long way toward reinforcing that opinion. My biggest critique of Bliss was that it felt “sort of broadly generic”. The sound that they’ve developed here feels like theirs, and they’ve already begun to really hone it. The Grand Inferno just isn’t consistent — some tracks are mind-blowingly phenomenal, while others are just….there….
Filler does not make a great album.
I truly expect that, on their next outing, Tungsten should blow it out of the water. They’re climbing, and hopefully they’ll maintain this growth. I’m really excited to hear what they do next. If they take their time and cook on album #5, it could easily become iconic. They’re so close.
Rating: Green
Hammerfall also released an album this year. Click here to check out my review of Avenge the Fallen.
Bliss rated a Green at the time, and I stated that “Tungsten strikes me as a potential future powerhouse in the Power Metal genre.”
With cover art which looks like it’s inspired by Iced Earth.
I do not know if I just didn’t catch this on Bliss, or if there’s something about the composition or mix on The Grand Inferno which pulls this out of him.