{"id":51351,"date":"2016-03-04T22:52:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T03:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=51351"},"modified":"2016-03-04T22:52:38","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T03:52:38","slug":"manimal-trapped-in-the-shadows-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/manimal-trapped-in-the-shadows-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Manimal | Trapped in the Shadows<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Manimal\"Swedish Heavy\/Power Metal band Manimal is back after a six-year absence with their second album, titled Trapped in the Shadows<\/em>. That title is actually a pretty fitting summary of the band\u2019s trajectory up to this point. Their 2009 debut The Darkest Room<\/em> was a solid enough album, but the band never really emerged as a force in the crowded power metal scene the way bands like Brainstorm and Primal Fear have. Given the time that has passed and the relative obscurity of the debut, Trapped in the Shadows<\/em> is almost a reintroduction to Manimal.<\/p>\n

As reintroductions go, Trapped in the Shadows<\/em> definitely makes a good (second) impression, capturing the best elements of the power and traditional metal sounds in a tight, filler-free collection of songs. It sounds like the steel-studded love child of Primal Fear and Saxon, with hints of those classic later Urban Breed-era Tad Morose albums. The songs are wickedly melodic, satisfyingly heavy and never once fade into the background. Samual Nyman\u2019s piercing scream recalls Ralf Scheepers, cutting like a knife and adding major doses of power to the anthemic \u201cMarch of Madness,\u201d \u201cInvincible\u201d and \u201cScreaming Out,\u201d and Henrik Stenroos\u2019s guitar work is every bit as deadly. Label-mate Udo Dirkschneider lends his instantly recognizable pipes to \u201cThe Journey,\u201d making it another highlight of this beast of an album.<\/p>\n

In this day and age, it\u2019s almost unheard of to see a Power Metal album clock in at ten songs and just 50 minutes, but there is literally zero filler on Trapped in the Shadows<\/em>. When you have ten songs this powerful and memorable, tacking on introductory or instrumental tracks or even a cover just to pad the album simply isn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re one of the faithful Manimal fans and enjoyed their debut, you\u2019re obviously going to love Trapped in the Shadows<\/em>. If you\u2019re new to the band, or you weren\u2019t exactly wowed by The Darkest Room<\/em>, this album is going to put your jaw on the floor. Manimal holds their own with recent releases by Saxon, Primal Fear and Brainstorm here, and as a result Trapped in the Shadows<\/em> is an early contender for best Power Metal album of 2016.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal, Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nSamual Nyman (v)
\nHenrik Stenroos (g)
\nAndre Holmqvist (d)
\nKenny Boufadene (b) (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tIrresistible
\n2.\tMarch of Madness
\n3.\tThe Dark
\n4.\tTrapped in the Shadows
\n5.\tInvincible
\n6.\tMan-Made Devil
\n7.\tSilent Messiah
\n8.\tThe Journey
\n9.\tScreaming Out
\n10.\tPsychopomp<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/manimalofficial<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Sr. Columnist — Swedish Heavy\/Power Metal band Manimal is back after a six-year absence with their second album, titled Trapped in the Shadows. That title is actually a pretty fitting summary […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[8645,2317,2491,12124,1097,12126,12125],"class_list":{"0":"post-51351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-heavy-metal","11":"tag-manimal","12":"tag-power-metal","13":"tag-the-darkest-room","14":"tag-trapped-in-the-shadows"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}