Heaviness Meets Joy on this Summer's Party Record - A Review of New Horizon's Conquerors

New Horizon is a Swedish heavy and power metal band that has just been releasing its second studio record Conquerors. A look at the colourful cover artwork and the track list for this album underlines the group's admiration for heavy metal legends Iron Maiden and references to groups such as Sabaton, Edguy and HammerFall can also be made.

The band convinces with tight upper mid-tempo drum play, energetic and rhythmic bass guitar play, powerful guitar rhythms and melodic guitar solos as well as fanfare keyboards for some cinematic depth. The vocals find a pleasant balance of melody and power as suitable for the presented genres. A few guests have been invited to add further diversity and energy. Production duties have been completed by Chris Snyder who has already been collaborating with Swedish heavy metal quartet Sister Sin.

Conquerors features quite a few songs that should please genre enthusiasts and fans of the groups mentioned above. "Shadow Warrior" for instance finds the perfect balance between atmosphere and power and entertains thoroughly through five wonderful minutes. "Apollo" can be described as an epic track without any doubts as it breaks the six-minute mark and features some pleasantly interwoven audio samples. A true highlight is power ballad "Before the Dawn" featuring inspired guest vocals by Amaranthe's Elize Ryd who is one of the greatest contemporary vocalists in the Scandinavian power metal scene. A very pleasant surprise is New Horizon's cover of my favourite Iron Maiden song "Alexander the Great (356 - 323 B.C.)" as the band manages to honour the original soundscapes while adding some decently employed keyboard layers, high-pitched vocals and additional screams here and there. This song has truly been ageing like fine wine and is simply a joy to be listened to, even four decades afters its creation.

As you can read, New Horizon's Conquerors is a great heavy and power metal album performed with heart, intellect and skills. The band offers several excellent songs of their own and concludes with a magnificent cover song. The record manages to entertain with ten tracks and a running time of fifty-two minutes. The only metal fans that might not dig this release are those who could claim that the band still lacks its very own identity and those who might find this type of heavy metal a little bit too saccharine. Personally, however, I believe that there is nothing wrong about combining heaviness and joy at all. My recommendation would be to purchase this record, crank up the volume and make New Horizon's Conquerors the heavy metal party record of the summer 2024.

Final Rating: 80%