Review AMARANTHE ‘The Catalyst’

‘The Catalyst’ is the latest effort from Amaranthe and the Swedes’ seventh album seamlessly follows on from its predecessor. Four years after ‘Manifest’, Amaranthe present a new singer in Mikael Sehlin, who replaces the former Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson. However, this change of personnel has hardly any effect on the new album, as the two are not too different vocally.

Amaranthe once again demonstrate their mix of hard and soft, loud and quiet, good and evil. However, the focus of the album has shifted to the more pop-oriented melodies, while the harder parts have moved more and more into the background. I think it’s no coincidence that the Swedes put a Roxette cover at the end of the tracklist with ‘Fading Like a Flower’. If you listen to the record from start to finish, you will recognize the musical imprint more than once.

It should be highlighted that Elize Ryd once again delivers a strong performance.

The album starts dramatically with the title track. It begins with a dark intro and builds up to showcase all facets of the Amaranthe sound, including clean vocals, shouts, hard riffs, and a catchy chorus. ‘Insatiable’ is a stomping track that will make you want to shake your head, while ‘Damnation Flame’ is one of the heavier songs on the album.

Pop dominates in songs like ‘ReVision’, and even the growled vocals fail to improve it. ‘Stay a Little While’ is a well-crafted ballad, but nothing exceptional. The track progresses at a gentle pace before transitioning to disco-metal in ‘Ecstasy’, and ‘Resistance’ offers little resistance too due to its cloying melodies.

All in all, ‘The Catalyst’ offers little that is new. Much is predictable and well-known. Amaranthe can convince with sugar-sweet melodies, but the sweetness only unfolds its fascination for a short time and despite some good songs, a desire for something more hearty quickly arises again.