Review TUNGSTEN “The Grand Inferno”

Three times Johansson and one time Andersson, that’s the line-up of Tungsten, which indicates that we are dealing with a Swedish band. It was former Hammerfall drummer Anders Johansson who founded the band together with his two sons. This happened in 2016 and when vocalist Mike Andersson joined the band, work on the debut album could begin.

“We Will Rise” was released in 2019 and as the guys are working in a very productive way, the fourth album is supposed to hit the shelves these days. “The Grand Inferno” is the title of the latest work and it contains eleven songs.

One thing that ties all the songs together is the sense of melody. There is a constant catchy note added to these tunes while the influences vary. It all starts with the dramatic and rather heavy “Anger” and it’s the Viking hymn “Blood of the Kings” that shows some cinematic metal power. The sticky catchiness in the chorus is addictive and once you hear it, you can’t get it out of your mind.

These two tracks are a strong start, but there are some moments on the album that are different. “Lullaby” is more pop rock with cliché melodies that do not provide the big thrill. If you’re expecting big things from the title track, you might want to lower your expectations too as it’s a standard metal song.

With “Falling Apart” suddenly a very modern sounding metal riff comes to the fore, a sound that doesn’t connect to the previous tracks and that the Johansson family has listened to some Rammstein songs is what “Vantablack” indicates. “Chaos” is certainly not chaotic but well designed and also the last two songs are good standard with limited potential to provide a thrilling musical treat.

The good thing about “The Grand Inferno” is the proper production and the very dense sound. Furthermore, there is the infectious melody of “Blood of the Kings”, but both aren’t enough to lift an album from solid to good.