Normally anything with the name Magnus Karlsson attached to the credits would be an instant blind purchase. No questions asked! His output with Allen/Lande, Codex, Starbreaker and his own Free Fall project has been nothing short of exemplary.
Now we have The Ferrymen, a project with vocalist Ronnie Romero (Lords Of Black, Rainbow), together with drummer Mike Terrana.
I struggled with this from day one. And I kept at it because its Mangnus Karlsson right? But it didn’t take. Now after a month without listening, I’m again playing at maximum volume and really soaking up that monster guitar and rhythm section Magnus so easily delivers.
But the vocals still aren’t doing it for me. I’m used to a warmer, more melodic tone to accompany Magnus’ work. But more pointedly – I’m really still failing to connect with the songs themselves.
The opening bombastic anthem End Of The Road is cool; Still Standing Up has a good vocal melody and the ballad One Heart certainly has impact.
Tracks like Darkest Hour have the ingredients there, but just don’t have the warmth of past material.
The songs just aren’t there and the vocals leave me cold I’m afraid to say. There’s no issue at all with the musical performances or production, it is just a project that looked good on paper, but failed to deliver in reality.
Frontiers Music Srl is truly excited to present THE FERRYMEN’s self-titled debut album, set for release on June 2, 2017!
The Ferrymen is a brand new project featuring guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Magnus Karlsson's Free Fall) and vocalist Ronnie Romero Official Site (Lords Of Black, Rainbow), together with drummer Mike Terrana (Rage, AXEL RUDI PELL, MasterPlan, and more).
Watch the band's official EPK here:
The songs were written by Karlsson in Sweden during the summer of 2016. Once Romero was sent the music via their main bands' shared label home Frontiers, he immediately wanted to be part of the project. Terrana was the last piece of the puzzle and he recorded his drums in Italy, where he currently resides.
The resulting album is a shot of adrenaline for all lovers of melodic metal! Musically, you can expect maximum melodic metal fusing the songwriting and epic structures of the great ALLEN/LANDE records (for which Magnus Karlsson was the main architect of the first three widely praised releases) with the Ronnie James Dio-esque vocal approach of Romero. (Let's not forget that Romero was hand-picked by Deep Purple (1968-1976) and Rainbow's legendary guitarist Richie Blackmore to be the lead vocalist for Rainbow's recent reunion shows, so the Dio comparison is more than accurate!)
Tells Magnus, “When I wrote this record, having Ronnie singing, I had no limits in mind with the lyrics. Ronnie could sing everything and I am also very proud of the songs!”
“I am used to working with Lords of Black in a certain straight style,” adds Ronnie Romero, “but, this record was very different and it was very exciting for me!”
“Overall, I think it is one of the coolest and grooviest records I’ve ever done,” concludes Mike Terrana, a drummer with more than 100 records under his belt!
With stunning artwork courtesy of Stan W. Decker and an outstanding mix courtesy of Simone Mularoni (of Italian prog metal masters DGM), THE FERRYMEN is an album which will take the metal world by storm in 2017!
