Album Review: The Storyteller – The Final Stand (The Circle Music)

Swedish power metal band, The Storyteller return with their long-awaited seventh full-length album, The Final Stand, set for release on 25 April 2025 via The Circle Music.

Formed in 1998, The Storyteller quickly established themselves as a force in the power metal genre. Their debut album, released in 2000, was recorded in the legendary Studio Fredman. Over the course of five subsequent albums, the band has honed their signature sound: power metal infused with medieval melodies and fantasy-driven lyrics. Known for their storytelling (of course), The Storyteller takes listeners on epic journeys through both music and lyrics. Their history includes tours alongside heavy metal giants such as Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, and Bruce Kulick (ex-Kiss).

The Storyteller have been dormant for some time now though. It has been 10 years since their last full album release with 2015’s Sacred Fire. They are back now though, resurfacing with renewed vigour as they look to recapture the very essence of their original vision with The Final Stand. An album that exists as a result of a collaboration between vocalist L-G Persson and Cedrick Forsberg (Blazon Stone). It was Forsberg who reached out to Persson, creating a spark that reignited The Storyteller’s flame. How long that flame burns for? Who knows. There is a little bit of a feeling that The Storyteller are still living in the past a bit. Minimal social media presence, minimal updated images (thus the old picture below) and it isn’t clear, but seems to be predominantly a one man project, with assistance from other artists more so than a fully fleshed out band.

Perhaps The Final Stand is literal? Perhaps it turns the reignited flame into a blaze and we can look forward to a lot more from them. Time will tell, but for now, we have The Final Stand. An album Persson seems very pleased with as he comments:

“This is the production that managed to bind together all the elements that make The Storyteller unique. In this production, the music reflects the vision, and the lyrics bind together the storytelling theme. For the first time, it feels that everything is in place.”

The Storyteller, on The Final Stand, is L-G Persson on vocals, Cedrick Forsberg on guitars and bass and Henrik Olsson on drums.

The Final Stand is a pretty lengthy album bringing us 13 tracks in total and around 51 minutes of music to get stuck in to starting with the aptly titled opener, Another Chapter Begins. At 2 and a quarter minutes long, it’s a bit meatier than the average intro track but delivers a similar vibe. Gentle acoustic melody with some nice orchestral backing repeats throughout the instrumentals run time with no change ups, no surprises – but it is nice to listen to, generates a touch of atmosphere and gets you set and in that power metal mindset. Cleverly then, the first full song, It’s Storytime, reuses the same melody but electrified – that glues both songs together nicely.

Fast drums, strong guitar melody and good vocals drive a much faster song forward. The drums have quite a raw sound to them, which is quite unlike the usually polished genre. Vocals are good, really working well alongside the layered backing vocals. During the faster verses, the vocals sound a little more strained, really coming into their own when the chorus drops and they slow slightly and push the pitch and range. It’s a catchy enough song though with an enjoyably energetic tempo, packing all the power metal trademarks but just not really sparking. A banging solo being one of the most enjoyable segments of the song.

That Eyes Cannot See keeps the tempo up delivering a gloriously catchy intro melody. The verses have a good flow, but it lacks something to really grab you – the chorus is fine, the vocals fine, the drums fine – a decent track but it seems a bit early on in an album to get what could be described as filler.

Tower of Fear adds a little darkness in the intro with a wonderful combination of guitars and massive drum fills. It’s still a pretty quick track, but has a deeper crunch to the riffs and the vocal delivery adds a touch of menace at points. The drums are working hard here, the vocals stretch a little further and pitch and power at times and there is great use of backing vocals. It’s a good track that also packs a strong solo but suffers just a touch near the end where you feel it could be trimmed a bit to prevent it becoming repetitive.

This Time Tomorrow is a real favourite of mine so far though. The vocal delivery drops down a bit but the drums and guitars keep working overtime which creates a cool sound. Plenty of backing vocals in the verses, a catchy chorus and superb guitar leads creates a very strong and listenable track. Plenty of folk moments in the melody during a slow down section coupling with those blasts of electric leads has a hint of old school Blind Guardian. It’s a song that shows The Storyteller as a much more creative force than seen fully across the opening quarter of the album. I could listen to this one all day – I probably will.

Return Of The Thieves has a newly set high bar to reach and does pretty well at getting there. Completely changing up the very singular stylings of the opening segments, we are now in structurally exciting songs where we have multiple transitions and styles gluing together to create genuinely exciting songs. The verses deliver menace, crunchy riffs and powerful drums. These are then separated by a blast of folk guitar melody all building up to a decent chorus with lots of layers of vocals. Stops for hushed spoken word sections, a phenomenal solo that will have the hairs on your arms standing to attention, this is creative and exciting song writing.

The longest song on the album is titled Fields of Blood and Steel and does a good job of holding interest through multiple transitions. Moving from faster, looser metal through to anthemic sing along sections to folk slow downs. Plenty of solos with plenty of phases add some of the extra length to the song but it flows well and keeps the adrenaline flowing. In the Shadows drops a lot of the flair going instead for a shorter, faster number with rolling drums and punchy riffs. It’s a good song, helped a lot by having a really good prechorus and chorus. Sweet Lullaby then changes the pace up significantly with a ballad that leans heavily on gorgeous acoustic melody and softer vocals. There is plenty of stunning vocal harmonising too in a song that soothes and refreshes you, adding a welcome respite from the much faster stuff.

By Oath and Blood picks things back up with a power metal marching anthem. Made for singalong moments with superbly catchy guitar leads, the slower, stomping drum beats get your neck working and your first raise din the air. It’s superbly simple, but so effective and comfortable to listen to. The vocals really kill it here too with enough gravel to add force but plenty of range to really punctuate and emphasise some of the lines. It’s a firm favourite, and continues the trend of the back half of this album being loaded with bangers.

They Will Fear Our Battlecry gets us close to the end and shows The Storyteller stretching some more creative muscle with a folk song that introduces wind instruments, tribal drums and folk chanting. The traditional metal instruments drop away, mostly, to what seems more like a campfire song, sung on the eve of battle. It’s very cool, and impressive quite how varied The Final Stand has become since a rocky start. We reach the closing tracks starting with the penultimate one, a 36 second long intro track called As The World Holds Its Breath. It really acts more as an extended outro to the previous song, bringing some building noises and atmospheric touches before Final Stand starts. The pace picks back up for a shorter blast of power metal with a traditional edge.

Fiery drums and riffs blaze out in verses that have pace and energy but little excitement. The chorus, the guitar bookends and solo is where the fun and flair comes from and that really pulls the song from okay to good. The verses have the same issue as the opening couple of tracks where something just isn’t clicking – the combination of pace, vocals and drums just not quite gelling, but when you have a solo as good as the one here, and a very cool chorus, you will feel satisfied.

The Final Stand started rocky for me, with a few tracks that had pace and energy but lacked anything standout, and didn’t sound fully cohesive. There are hints of that in the verses of the closing track too and that will have to be enough to knock a few points off in the scoring but I am going to feel bad doing that because everything else in the middle is pure gold. Creative, varied power metal full of infectious hooks, dynamism and adrenaline raising magic. A bit of fat trimmed from the edges, and you have a 10/10 here. I was worried a couple of tracks in, but I didn’t need to be.

The Storyteller clearly still have a great deal to offer and you can see, in 3/4s of The Final Stand why they have been, and are so well regarded. I’m on board now, and The Final Stand has a lot of tracks that will be getting a lot of replaying from me this year.

Tracklist:

01. Another chapter begins
02. It’s Storytime
03. That Eyes Cannot See
04. Tower Of Fear
05. This Time Tomorrow
06. Return Of The Thieves
07. Fields Of Blood And Steel
08. In The Shadows
09. Sweet Lullaby
10. By Oath And Blood
11. They Will Fear Our Battlecry
12.As The World Holds Its Breath
13. Final Stand

 

The Storyteller Links

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