Golden Resurrection - Man with a Mission

1. The Light Overture

2. Man With a Mission

3. Identity in Christ

4. Golden Times

5. Finally Free

6. Generation of the Brave

7. Standing on the Rock

8. Metal Opus 1 C#m

9. Flaming Youth

10. Are You Ready for the Power

11. Point of Know Return (Kansas cover - bonus digital track)

12. The End of the World (Gary Moore cover - bonus digital track)

Release Date: 26 October 2011

Europe: Sound Pollution, USA: Nightmare Records

Man with a Mission is the second release from this Swedish melodic metal powerhouse band featuring the vocals of Christian Liljegren, who is best known for his work with Narnia and Divine Glory (though he has appeared on so so many other great releases too), and the sweet guitar and vocal work of Tommy ReinXeed, most widely recognized from the few amazing releases with his band ReinXeed.

The first album Glory to My King was given rave reviews worldwide from the melodic metal crowd, and now they are back with an album equally deserving of praise. The formula is the same, so you won't be hit with anything off the wall, just plain and powerful metal in the style that is so prevalent in the euro-metal world. Lyrically there is a slight difference. Both albums are opening, and blatantly in your face Christian in their lyrical content, but this second release feels more mature in that area.


On Glory to My King, the lyrics were a bit more in-your-face Christian, but to the point of being somewhat cliché in a manner - and I mean no disrespect in that at all. I know I may get all kinds of "hate-mail" response, but let me try to explain some. Back in the 80's when Christian metal was just starting to crawl, pretty much the majority of the bands were writing very in-you-face "Jesus loves you" lyrics, and the bands that were not being as bold like that were knocked for their lack of bold lyrics. Over time and in looking back, those overly bold lyrics began to sound a bit cheesy in their delivery, with the over abundance of "Jesus is the rock" type anthems, etc., and since that time the lyrics of most Christian bands have grown to a different level.  While there are still a large number of bands that have very bold Christian lyrics, even those tend to come across as less cliché than in days of old. With the first Golden Resurrection album, I felt like the lyrical content was more closely like the "cheesier" side of the 80's - blatantly Christian...yes...but just kind of...and for the lack of a better word, just kind of cliché feeling. As a Christian, I can sing along and love it, and think it is one great Christian melodic/neoclassic metal masterpiece, but may be less comfortable letting a non-Christian friend listen due to the lyrical presentation. When looking at the majority of Liljegren's past material, it just seemed a bit different in it's boldness and delivery.

Now, some bands start off great, and then flop on their second release. Some bands start off okay, and then grow on each subsequent release. I think Golden Resurrection fit into both categories. Their first album was really good, but this second release takes all of the goodness of the first, and adds a new maturity that makes it even better. I can only imagine what a third album will do with these seasoned musicians. Present are the expected neoclassical guitar solos, tight rhythm sections, powerful soaring vocals, and bombastic double bass driven drumming that makes this style so enjoyable.

When I first looked at the song titles, two of them stood out to me: "Flaming Youth" and "Point of Know Return." I thought that the band was doing a cover of a Kiss and Kansas song and was interested to see what they'd do. Well, I was wrong on the Kiss reference, but correct on the Kansas cover, and they did an excellent tribute to a great song - no major original changes to it, just a great cover. Turns out the last track is a Gary Moore tribute for the song "The End of the World." However, it appears those two cover tunes will only be availabel on the digital version of this release.

The band bio is correct when it states "Both Christian & Tommy are big fans of ABBA, EUROPE, KANSAS, QUEEN, RAINBOW, MALMSTEEN, STRATOVARIUS & DIO and of course you can hear these influences in their music as well as influences from their respective bands NARNIA, DIVINEFIRE & REINXEED."

If you like the abundance of European melodic and power metal that is out there, you should love this release. If you enjoyed their first release, hopefully you will, like me, enjoy this one even more, as the band continues to mature and put out some amazing material.