(Heavy/Power/Speed Metal) [CD] Rocka Rollas - Pagan Ritual - 2015, WavPack (image+.cue), lossless

REVIEW FROM WWW.METAL-OBSERVER.COM:

When it comes to jack-of-all-trading, Sandviken’s Cederick Forsberg is right up there with the busiest of them. Since 2011 the man has released eleven albums and two EPs with six bands/projects, a time frame during which many a band managed to release… nothing… Rocka Rollas is his longest-standing band and also the one with the most releases, with their brand new album Pagan Ritual bringing the total count to four full albums and an EP and with four members it also is the most populated band Ced is involved with.

Pagan Ritual sees a little of a deviation from the Gamma Ray meets Running Wild sound of predecessor The Road to Destruction, and instead now are headed straight down the road of mid-era Blind Guardian (remember that Breitenhold now seems to be covering the Germans’ early days) with some Gamma Ray influences (especially Ced’s voice still has this old Kai Hansen touch), but with charm, quality and with them sounding more like that sound than Blind Guardian themselves these days, not the worst comparison to be thrown into, right? “The Punic Wars” is an uptempo cracker that embodies pretty much all of the above, especially in the riffing and speed that reminds of BG, while the chorus has a definitive GR touch, so a bit of Gamma Guardian here, but at the same time without being a copy, one just has to take a look at how long it has been since the originals were full purveyors of this sound.

And without the shadow of a doubt Pagan Ritual is the best album Rocka Rollas have created to date, cohesive, consistent, gripping, with just the right balance between fast and heavy on the one and ultimately epic on the other side, with “Gaulic Boare”’s great melodies or the dynamics of “Lost in the Enchanted Forest”, but the trio “Pagan Ritual”, “Viking Lord” (that chorus!) and ultimately playful double-bass cracker “Call of the Wild” puts this album down as certified smoker! Sharp riffs, soaring leads, grand choruses and just overall strong songwriting sets these three songs apart and blow any potential complaints about the band just riding the coattails of the old German heroes smack out of the water.

Originality still is non-existent, but if you are in the line of business that Rocka Rollas is, originality is not the be all, end all, but very well done music that puts the emphasis on quality instead of forcing musical innovation into the picture. Pagan Ritual is the proof that it is still possible to have fun while producing some serious metal that has spirit, charm and heart. And each of their albums has been different in character, while never losing track of what Rocka Rollas is at its core: Epic power/speed metal as it should be!

Cederick: lead vocals and guitars
Emil: guitars
Thunder: bass
Billy: drums