Metal Overview: Majestica

 Hi fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

Today’s post will most likely be the shortest Overview I have ever done so far. With two albums to their name, you think that there isn’t that much to listen to and analyze. You would be wrong. The newly resurrected side-project of Sabaton guitarist Tommy Johansson is a Power Metal force to be reckoned with! Though Majestica haven’t been around for very long, the content that they’ve been putting out has been nothing short of epic, and it’s that epicness that I want to look at today. So join me will you, and let us explore the mighty world of Majestica. Let’s begin!

Side Note: Yes, I know that ReinXeed came before, and were the original band before Majestica. The only reason I’m not covering them here is that I really haven’t that much exposure to them, so trust me when I say that they’ll eventually get their own overview sometime down the road.

Above The Sky (2019)

Our story begins in the relatively recent year of 2019. For 6 albums prior, Tommy Johansson & his original band ReinXeed has been tearing up the Power Metal charts, but destiny would come a calling. In 2016, Sabaton guitarist Thobbe Englund would leave the band because he was going to be a Dad (As Joakim once said: A little Sabaton baby). The metal gods came to Tommy, and said that he was destined for greater things, and so he joined the band, but never disbanded his old group. Flash forward to the previously mentioned year, and ReinXeed would sign a deal with Nuclear Blast Records, but they realized that at this new phase of their existence, a name change seemed necessary. Majestica would become the name of this newly resurrected ReinXeed, but even before they signed Tommy & the gang were diligently working on something juicy. We wouldn’t have to wait long, for on the 7th of June, Above The Sky was released! For the ReinXeed faithful, this was a wonderful welcome to form, and it was a huge treat for me back then as well.

Best Track? I think it’s hard not to say that the title track is the best damn thing on here! Above The Sky the song is the ultimate example of Power Metal cheese: over-the-top guitars and bass, pounding drums, keyboards that generate some wicked noise, operatic vocals, and heaving piles of warm & fuzzy. Tommy Johansson is a talented musician in so many ways, and this monstrous opener of a song is just another well earned feather in his cap.

Above The Sky

A good 2nd best track would have to go to the oddity that is Majestica’s cover to the theme of the Mel Brooks classic Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs. At first it seems like a dorky thing to do a cover song for, but it’s shocking at how well it works out. The band have one foot firmly in the 80s in regards to nostalgia & following the spirit, but they also have the other foot in modern day production and Power Metal goofiness. I can certainly see why some wouldn’t like this, as it’s maybe a tiny bit too silly, but this is the kind of stuff my ears live for!

Spaceballs

But even with those two songs, it’s basically impossible to find anything bad on here. Even the exceptionally over-the-top & moronic Father Time manages to be a treat to listen to, despite it being a mishmash of oddness that’ll leave you scratching your head by the time it’s done playing. I was grinning from ear to ear while Above The Sky as I let the Power Metal flow through me, and I know it will for you also.

Worst Track? Above The Sky is perfect! Damn perfect in fact. Tommy knew what the hell he was doing in his original band, he knows his way within Sabaton, and now he’s on top in his resurrected band. No song on here is bad my any means, and anyone who thinks so is quite clearly insane. The only bad things I can say about this album, is that the production is just a tiny bit rough. It is actually difficult to tell, but in certain places on the record things just lapse ever so slightly backwards in terms of sound. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t even have noticed this lapsing if I didn’t read some reviews, but after listening to this masterpiece of Power Metal.

Above The Sky. Despite the very minor rough patch in the production, I can very sincerely say that Majestica’s first album is a perfect slice of Power Metal cheesecake. If for whatever reason you weren’t a ReinXeed fan, then you might want to give this release a try. Next album!

A Christmas Carol (2020)

I think it’s safe to say that 2020 is perhaps one of the most soul-crushing years in recent memory. Rampant plague, hordes of people all over the world dying to the plague, cancellations of so many concerts & conventions (Along with other events), the worst politics from the Trump administration, etc. With such a bleak year, you’d think that something like Power Metal couldn’t shine. Wrong! Heavy Metal may not have been able to come to the people, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t go into hibernation. Majestica is no exception, but what nobody expected was that their metallic offering would be a bit on the......Christmas-ey side. Released on the 4th of December last year, A Christmas Carol would prove that Tommy’s resurrected band was nothing to snicker at. In the case of this release, they decided to use the timeless Charles Dickens tale as inspiration for their music, and boy oh boy did they deliver! A Christmas Carol is by far one of the best Power Metal albums of 2020, and one of the best releases in that genre period. It has all of the things that are traditional within that genre, but it’s been given a Christmas coat of paint with loads of choirs, church bells, chimes, and just about any instrument/sound effect you can think of. Given it’s nature, you can see why it was one of my 3 number one albums of 2020.

Best Track? The Joy of Christmas has to be one of the most emotion, sickeningly sweet, and incredibly heartwarming Christmas/Holiday songs that have ever been released. If you recall my 10 top songs that make me cry list (Read here), you’ll know that I spoke of this there. This is the part of the story where we get a brief glimpse of the world through Bob Cratchit’s eyes, and his thoughts about his cruel boss. He wonders how much Scrooge’s life would have been so much better if love, friends, and the Christmas spirit were in his soul. This is translated into beautiful piano, elegant usage of traditional holiday instruments, and some righteous guitarwork towards the end. Funny enough, I played this for my Mom a few months back, and she said that she got a Disney vibe off of it. After listening to it a few more times, I can kinda here what she was talking about.

The Joy of Christmas

But go ahead & throw a dart at the board! Virtually every single song, outside of one (See below for details), is absolutely fantastic! Not a single track is slapdash or lazy, and it’s production doesn’t have that faint roughness that Above The Sky has. The other good thing I can say about A Christmas Carol is that it’s one of a terribly few piece of Christmas/Holiday media you can listen to all year. With something like A Twisted Christmas, you really can’t listen to it outside of December, but given the Power Metal suit that A Christmas Carol wears, it’s not out of the realm of possibility you can listen to it at any other time of the year.

Worst Track? To suggest that there’s a bad song on A Christmas Carol is to suggest that Santa isn’t real, or that homemade fruitcake is the anti-Christ (When in reality it’s incredibly delicious if made properly). That being said, if somebody was to pick A Majestic Christmas Theme, then I may not complain. The concluding track of the album, it is a nice instrumental piece, but is ultimately unnecessary since it basically just retells the story of the album all over again. While I don’t think it’s a time-waster, I sometimes press the “Skip” button when I get to this point.

A Majestic Christmas Theme

A Christmas Carol. An album that manages to soothe the soul & heal the heart from the ravages of the plague-ridden year that was 2020. If you want to have pure Christmas magic ring in your ears in December or any other time of year, then yule (Not going to apologize for that) want to seek this out!

And that was Majestica! Tommy & friends know exactly what they’re doing across their tiny discography, and given a few more albums, who know.....they might become a new Power Metal titan for all to worship. Well, with that said, I got 1 last post for February, as we’re returning to an old school series that’s been long overdue for a review. See you all next week!



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If you’re curious about listening to these albums, then click on the links below:

Above The Sky

A Christmas Carol