ALBUM REVIEW: Manifest – Amaranthe

A vocalist, another vocalist, and another vocalist walk into a bar… No – this isn’t the start of some stereotypically offensive joke – it’s the sign of Swedish pop-metal behemoths AMARANTHE arriving with their latest offering Manifest, a record that, despite being their sixth in just nine years, could quite possibly be the defining statement of their career thus far.

All of the usual hallmarks are present and correct from the opening moments of Fearless; power metal vocals and a powerhouse rhythm section combining with a soaring riff and the star power of front woman Elize Ryd to throw you head first into the world of AMARANTHE.

The band have always had a knack for writing, well, bangers, and that trend has well and truly continued here – the criminally catchy Viral and the relentless Archangel showing off the perfect blend of each and every component that makes them such a unique proposition. The latter is perhaps the strongest single since the days of 2013’s The Nexus, careering from screams to cleans and back again while leaning on the pop sensibilities and undeniable hooks that have helped the band force their way into the metal mainstream over the past decade.

It’s hard to argue with the choruses on this record either; whether it’s the super poppy Make It Better or the grittier but no less heavy-hitting Strong, and it’s these flashes of melodic brilliance that raise this offering above peers and contemporaries across the board.

There are certain songs that don’t quite hit the mark as whole pieces, however – the aforementioned Make It Better rather treading water during the verses and featuring a guitar solo that feels very much shoehorned into the mix. BOOM! meanwhile strays the wrong side of being too cheesy for its own good, utilising a mix of distorted electronics and some really rather questionable lyrical choices. There are also times where the triple-vocal approach feels like more of a gimmick than a vital addition to the album, as if there’s a quota that needs to be met of how frequently each voice is required to be heard. Scream My Name suffers slightly because of this, as the one-two of Ryd and Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson would have been more than enough with another set of clean vocals being woven into the fabric.

When it works, though, it works very well indeed. Adrenaline harks back to the early days of AMARANTHE, utilising a faster tempo to drive the track forward either side of a cacophonous blend of instrumentation. It’s also the finest example of Olof Mörck‘s exceptional guitar work, with a solo that wouldn’t seem out of place on the very best power metal albums of the past 30 years. Crystalline meanwhile is a ballad of epic proportions, building to a crescendo that takes you to the windswept peak of a Scandinavian mountain top whether you want it to or not.

Manifest is also full of cameos from the length and breadth of the metal world, with guest spots from members of APOCALYPTICA, BUTCHER BABIES, DRAGONLAND and BATTLE BEAST strewn across its 40-minute run time. As with a disproportionate number of cameos within metal, however, they do add very little to the success of the record, and if you weren’t aware that they were there you’d be forgiven for missing them entirely.

The quality does though stay at a pretty constant level across the record, with no serious misfires (with the possible exception of BOOM!) along the way. It’s for this reason that Manifest may well be the best record AMARANTHE have put their name to in the past seven years; not since the debut self-titled effort and The Nexus has there been a sense that every song could garner a rapturous response when played in a live setting – no more evident than on storming whirlwind The Game. Where previous records have had undoubted lulls in amongst the moments of quality, Manifest keeps its claws firmly fixed into your arm from start to finish, with only the odd fleeting dip in quality.

Manifest is not a perfect album, but by its very nature it would be almost impossible for it to be. By piecing together bits of the puzzle from a variety of genres, there are always going to be slight miscues, but on the whole it’s a record whose merits far outweigh its flaws. If you’ve been a fan of AMARANTHE over the course of their career to date there’s no way that you won’t love this as well, and if you’re completely new to the band… well there are certainly worse places to start. Now, let’s get back to that bar story…

Rating: 7/10

Manifest is set for release on October 2nd via Nuclear Blast.

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