The Swedish rockers of Narnia are finally presenting their third album. Desert Land was delayed for some time. On the record are nine songs. It kicks off with the powerful metal track Inner Sanctum. This song features a well oiled metal engine. It has strength and even Christian Liljegren's singing sounds a little raw here and there. The guitar playing is superb again. Carl Johan shows he knows how to grind his axe while playing scales, arpeggios, pivots and other licks and tricks with ease. You can hear some of his skills in the two instrumentals on this album. Desert Land is an album with variety. Powermetal you can hear in the song that was clearly inspired by the Narnia novels of C.S. Lewis: The Witch And The Lion. There's a ballad called Revolution Of Mother Earth. And Desert Land has some midtempo and slower rocking cuts. The playing is good though not all songs are as catchy as could be. Sometimes the singing could be more nasty instead of vibrating notes. Besides those remarks I have to say this band delivered a very fine piece of quality melodic metal. Out on February 12th 2001.
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #88Reviewed by Doug Van PeltHere's a band with some pluses and minuses. On the positive side: they sport a world-class shredder in guitarist Carljohan Grimmark and they play classic power metal. On the negative side: they play classic power metal. To pull off the music from another era (in this case, mid-70's to 1990), you better flippin' rule, or you're a parody of yourself. With Awakening and Long Live The King, Narnia…Dead Zine 2001Reviewed by SORGThis is a great example of what Christian metal is and should be. Desert Land is sure to become one of my all-time favorite metal albums! It is that good! The boys in Narnia have never failed to deliver when it comes to classic/power metal with a message and Desert Land is no exception. This is by far their best release to date. The guitars are awesome as always, and the drums and production…Similar sounding releases
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