The Mission

Royal Hunt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B00005NQIQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,061 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Criminally underrated, April 25, 2002

By 

Alain Fournier "wubby" (Hamilton, Pembroke Bermuda) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mission (Audio CD)

I'll start of with this caveat. I have until I bought this CD never heard a Royal Hunt song. So I will be unable to grade the quality of this CD compared to its predecessors. It might have the advantage that I have no preconception towards what a Royal Hunt should sound like. The slate is clean. The album will solely be judge on its merits are lack of.

The quick review is that this CD is that it's criminally underrated.

The "Mission" is a concept album based on Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. It's not necessary to have read the novel or to follow the story line of this album to enjoy it. Although at the very least understanding the story does give the music a greater emotional resonance. Especially on songs that close the CD such as "Days of No Trust" and "Total Recall".

This CD is very much in the progmetal category. The keyboards are very prominent and played with mastery by Andre Anderson. He makes good use of the keyboards from them being nice and melodic such as in "Judgement Day" to straight out aggressive as in "World Wide War". The opening to "World Wide War" Anderson plays a wonderful classical influence interlude called "Metamorphosis" that is breathtakingly beautiful.

John West's vocals are simple amazing. The man has great range and power. Witness some of his shrieks near the end on "World Wide War". His vocals are definitely been influence by past metal singers. He also does a terrific job on the slower more emotional songs such as on "Days of No Trust" . Where you can here sadness and melacholy in his vocals that goes melds perfectly with the lyrics.

Jacob Kjaer on guitar is a perfect compliment to the keyboards. He can rip off riff after furious riff but he can also play remarkably well in harmony with the keyboards such as in ":Surrender". He is very versatile and has an excellent mastery of technique. He notably shines on "World Wide War" with its heavy riff and on the intro "DreamLine" that leads in to the start of "Out Of Reach".

As mentioned earlier "The Mission" is a concept album as such you have the main songs and the songs that save as interludes or links from one song to another. There are 6 of these interludes. They range in length from 1:05 to 2:34. Don't let their brevity fool you there are some very fine moments in them. My two favourites I mentioned already are the beautiful "Metamorphosis" and the guitar oriented "DreamLine".

This will sound like a cliché and I have used it before but there is not one bad song on this CD. My favorites include the straight ahead rocker "The Mission", the intense "World Wide War" and the brilliant vocal lines of "Surrender".

In short this is an essential addition to any fan of progressive metal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!!!!!, August 30, 2001

By 

James Sontag (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mission (Audio CD)

The Mission by Royal Hunt is their heaviest album to date. It starts off with Takeoff and goes into the Mission at full force. You know then you are in for one wild ride. It has some slower, mellower songs like Days, and then you have songs like World Wide War, and Total Recall that are probably the heaviest songs the band has ever done. Royal Hunt have done it again with another concept album that in my opinion is equal to Paradox. If this is your first album from Royal Hunt, take the time to really listen to their older stuff such as Moving Target, Paradox, or Fear and you'll see why they are one of the best bands out there next to Iron Maiden, in my opinion. John West's vocals on Mission are superb, don't think they lost anything replacing D C Cooper. This is a must get for any Royal Hunt fan and anybody who likes really great music. Jacob Kjaer's guitar work on Mission is absolutely amazing. He's really underrated and under appreciated. I give The Mission 5 stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars RH is now a true Progressive band., August 19, 2002

By 

Nikhil Nair (unimportant) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mission (Audio CD)

Considering the talent in the band, Fear was a rather weak effort. The Mission, though, is definitely the most ambitious effort by the band thus far. If you're hoping for something like a cross between Paradox and Forces Of Nature, prepare for disappointment. Seems like the boys have been listening to their Yes, Deep Purple and electronica records. Andersen experiments with Hammond organs, Yes-like chirping keyboard sounds and a drum machine. Not even West can escape the experimentation as the band has him using vocal processors at times. Even though I'm not too big on electronica, I feel it really works here, especially considering the sci-fi lyrical content. RH shows good judgment by not using the techno sounds too often, so still expect a lot of power/prog metal. A lot of the times I find it hard to believe tat the band I'm listening to is RH, but then the backing vocals come around and I know it's them. The band with this album is now a progressive metal band in the true sense. Combining musical elements from their past albums with some drum machines, samples and sound effects, the band's new effort and incarnation sounds surprisingly refreshing.
Highlights: The Mission, Clean Sweep, World Wide War, Total Recall

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