Majesties

Majesties from

To those familiar with the individual pieces that make up MAJESTIES – formed by Tanner Anderson, Carl Skildum, and Matthew Kirkwold – the sound on Vast Reaches Unclaimed will be another striking addition to their respective oeuvres, recalling the glorious days of Wrong Again and No Fashion Records.

Evoking a time when Gothenburg was starting to unseat Stockholm as the unimpeachable city for Swedish death metal in the mind of the international metal scene, MAJESTIES bears that intrinsic sense of rabid intensity and the effortlessly satisfying melodic ability that made albums like In Flames’ The Jester Race and its immediate forbears instant classics. The mix of major key melodies and twin guitar harmonies snaking through every track ornament the vigorous riff eruptions and anguished vocals in a sheen of gleaming brilliance that proves an exhilarating triumph to behold.

Without a hint of the corruption the style experienced in a post-Slaughter Of The Soul world, Vast Reaches Unclaimed exists as a fervent reminder of what was and what again shall be. MAJESTIES reanimates the corpse of the true melodic style that both divided and invigorated the death metal scene of the mid-1990s and brings it into 2023 like it never left, sounding as novel and thrilling as ever. Fans of In Flames, Eucharist, Dark Tranquillity, A Canorous Quintet, Gates of Ishtar, Iron Maiden, Ceremonial Oath, and clearly Obsequiae and Inexorum, should not miss MAJESTIES’ debut.

Vast Reaches Unclaimed was engineered by the MAJESTIES members after which it was mixed and mastered by Adam Tucker at Signaturetone Recording (Ulthar, Thou, Obsequiae), and completed with photography by Sarah Kirkwold, artwork by Juanjo Castellano (Gates Of Ishtar, Varathron, The Black Dahlia Murder), logo by Dan Capp, and layout by Chimere Noire.

Guitarist Carl Skildum writes with the album’s lead single, “‘The World Unseen’ provides a broad representation of the surreal lyrical themes of the record, and specifically depicts an out-of-the-body experience. It tells the tale of a mind untethered to a physical form, flowing through the world free of physical constraints. There are some deep roots to this particular song, with the verse riff having been rescued from one of my riff tapes from 1997.”