Is there anyone in the world of modern metal that sounds as awe-inspiringly massive as Dynazty?

That’s how I began my review for Swedish power metallers Dynazty’s last album, 2020’s The Dark Delight. And I’m delighted to report that Final Advent, their new album, has produced a similar response after repeated immersions. Dynazty, once again, have done the business, and then some…

That said, this isn’t The Dark Delight V.2; rather, Dynazty have taken all the elements that made that album great, tweaked, fiddled and generally honed those aspects and then gone away and written an album that is somehow just… more. The grandiose ballads – Second track Yours, for instance, is more tear-jerking – whilst the heavy rockers – Achilles Heel especially – simply bring more heavy to the party. Without being too trite about it, this is an album with all the knobs set to one hundred and eleven…

At the heart as ever is vocalist Nils Molin, a man for whom the sky truly is the limit vocally; he gives a command performance throughout, whether it be staccato delivery of lyrics on Advent, the purebred belting of anthemic rockers like Power of Will or The White or that afore-mentioned balladeering on Yours, there’s not a moment here where the man doesn’t shine, or show the rest how it’s really done.

Natural Born Killer, despite it’s aggressive title, harness the melodies and songwriting smarts of Abba to get it’s message across, with Rob Love Magnusson‘s keys glittering across the mix in goosebump-inducing style. Magnusson and six string buddy Mike Lavér put in a pretty heroic shift on the axe pyrotechnic front, giving an improbable Malmsteenesque overkill to some of the solo sections that shouldn’t work, but does, every time. Have a listen to the fabulous All The Devils Are Here for proof if needed… Everything is delivered with the sort of joie de vivre born of the knowledge within the participants that they are on top of their respective games; every mountain they set themselves is scaled, and that joy can’t help but be communicated to the listener – you will love listening to this album over and over again, let me tell you!

The deliriously OTT Instinct does what I thought couldn’t be done – tops everything on The Dark Delight, but this album isn’t really about competition; It’s about progression, it’s about the refinement of an ideal to razor sharpness and maximum pleasure production. In Final Advent, there’s no doubt that Dynazty have made their best album ever. Can they top it? Who knows. For the moment, let’s just enjoy this ridiculously good album…

Final Advent releases on August 26th.