Mysterizer – Invisible Enemy

Release Date: 16/08/2019
Label: None

Well, heavy metal (or as I knew it when I first met it, “metal”) has been making a comeback these last few years, owing perhaps to people who miss the kind of innocent purity that made heavy metal the giant it was. Joining in on the fun is the Finnish newcomers Mysterizer who have presented us with their first full-length, Invisible Enemy. Before I get into that, however, I am going to implore you to ignore that terrible album cover art because it truly does not give any insight as to what’s in store for you here.

What’s waiting for you in this album can best be described as heavy power metal. It’s built on the foundations of heavy metal and stripped of the excesses that power metal is known for. What awaits you is clean-cut heavy metal foundations of typical riffs, middling pace for the most part that only cuts loose in more rock’n’roll moments; stable bass, adequate drums and the melodic, somewhat middle-of-the-road vocals with impressive soar. Add a couple of tasteful solos and tempo changes in somewhat engaging songwriting, and you get the picture.

Now, a metal band is nothing without riffs and luckily, there are a variety of riffs to be found in Invisible Enemy. From the catchy-as-all-hell opener of Take and Go to the battle-ready galloping of Just Wait to the buckwild rockin’ Behind the Masquerade, you get to experience all kinds of riffs delivered with flair and style. Songs rarely over- or under-use their riffs.

The issue here isn’t that there isn’t variety, it is that the stylistic choices in the album limit the kinds of riffs you find. Therein we run into an overall problem with Invisible Enemy: it sounds dry. Lukewarm. It’s a mixture of the underwhelming, understated production mixing with the rather limited or, more accurately, limiting musical influences put to the fore.

Therein the question Mysterizer and their ilk have to face is revealed: how much do nostalgia acts simply milk the feeling of fond longing without adding any surplus value? See, to succeed beyond just their nostalgic appeal, a band such as Mysterizer has to bring something new to the table. Unfortunately, Invisible Enemy doesn’t really offer anything other than being a well-put together, if slightly dry heavy power metal album.

At the end of the day, the choice you have with this album is whether or not you think listening to what is essentially an album you’ve heard before from a new mouth is enough to satiate your hunger for great music. If great is what you are after, I’m sorry to say that Mysterizer don’t really have it.

But if good is all you want, and some meat-and-potatoes heavy metal will do for now, then I suggest you give these guys a try.

Line-Up:
Tomi Kurtti – vocals
Mike Hammer – guitars
Janne Marjamaa – guitars
Jari Alakoski – bass
Pasi Niskala – drums

Mysterizer Official
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