CoC : Narnia - Long Live the King : Review

Narnia - _Long Live the King_
(Nuclear Blast, 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (2 out of 10)

Well, what can I say? I'll start with pointing out that this band have only plundered from C.S. Lewis' selection of classic children's books for their name, cover (which is bastardised) and a song title or maybe two. This is not _Themes from C.S. Lewis "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"_. This is probably good in that the Narnia stories, much as they are involving and well-written, are not really appropriate material for heavy metal lyrics. I don't want to restrict anyone here, but I don't think anyone could pull that off convincingly. No, instead we are treated to endless Christian preaching, worshipping and thanking. Sorry to sound prejudiced, but my atheism is not the reason for my ridicule. These lyrics are downright crappy, predictable, typical "everything's great 'cause I found God" garbage. A sample: "Oh my lord, from heaven above, give me strength to carry on, Lord give me shelter, every night every morning, Lord give me shelter, all through the pain". The music consists of melodic rock/metal with very "German" sounding vocals (HammerFall doing pop) and plenty of cheesy backing keyboards. There are some decent riffs and guitar runs, but quite honestly the only reason I can think of for these guys to be signed to Nuclear Blast would be Markus Staiger trying to make up with God over giving the world so many (excellent) Satanic bands. This is false metal, I say death to it, and I'm pretty sure certain other Nuclear Blast signees would agree with me.

(article published 19/5/1999)