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Review: Elvenking - Reader of the Runes - Divination
Elvenking
www.elvenking.net
Reader of the Runes - Divination

Label: AFM Records
Year released: 2019
Duration: 52:25
Tracks: 12
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3.75/5


Review online: September 12, 2019
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.5/5 (70%) (8 Votes)
Review

If you're a power metal fan that values consistency from your favorite bands, may I present Elevenking's Reader of the Runes – Divination, that band's 10th studio album. Elvenking's hallmark slightly folky power metal sound is intact, and the performances are as sharp as you'd expect from such a long-running outfit. It is power metal, so you have a few double-kick drums, loads of hooky choruses and fantasy/magic-themed lyrics all dressed up with major chord riffs and keyboard complements along with a few string and flute effects. As for the consistency I mentioned, Reader of the Runes – Divination is a near-carbon copy of everything this band has done in the last 10 years (minus the dreadful Era from 2012) and it is getting to the point where only the diehards are going to be able to tell one Elvenking album from another. That might be a good thing for some, and I don't mean to imply a band has to change radically from album to album, but stagnation is a growing concern with Elvenking. The songwriting is still good enough and I don't hate Reader of the Runes – Divination by any stretch. I just don't hear anything that makes me think if you have Secrets of the Magick Grimoire or The Pagan Manifesto, you have any real need for it.

More about Elvenking...
Review: Era (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Era (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Era (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Heathenreel (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Reader of the Runes - Divination (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Reader of the Runes - Rapture (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Red Silent Tides (reviewed by Adam Kohrman)
Review: Red Silent Tides (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Secrets of the Magick Grimoire (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Secrets of the Magick Grimoire (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Pagan Manifesto (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Scythe (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: The Winter Wake (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
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