THEM

An international force for heavy metal excellence, THEM have made it their business to honor both storytelling and musical tradition. "Psychedelic Enigma" is the band's fifth studio album since abandoning their original status as a KING DIAMOND cover band, and it may be their most impressive yet. It is a concept album dedicated to a mysterious, shadowy figure — a classic, horror archetype, and the perfect vehicle for the fastest, heaviest and most detailed record THEM have made to date. The story itself is not presented with razor-sharp clarity, but as an exercise in unearthing dark secrets and striding purposefully into the unknown, it works extremely well. Hidden amidst its grand finale, the album's final twist maintains the horror movie momentum that has been built up over the previous hour of fiery, thrash-adjacent power metal. This is a band that thinks visually and philosophically, as well as in terms of ripping people's heads off, and "Psychedelic Enigma" is a very cohesive and well-rounded record as a result.

But the most striking thing about "Psychedelic Enigma" is how much harder and punchier it is than any of THEM's previous records. As the years have gone by, this band have shrugged off their early devotion to the aforementioned Danish metal icon and become much more adventurous in their creativity. It is an objective fact that the majority of these songs lean heavily into glossy, speed metal splendor and dark-hued prog metal indulgence, but whereas previous albums were similarly conceptual, this one seems more intent on getting under people's skin. Whatever it is that the brooding star of the show is getting up to, it resonates with more real-world efficacy than any amount of Lovecraftian musing. It sounds more in tune with the music and aesthetics of classic horror, too. Vocalist KK Fossor has the perfect voice for this stuff — evocative, soulful and sinister — and his bandmates have upped the ante to such a degree that "Psychedelic Enigma" can be partly defined as a showcase for the frontman's multi-faceted skills. Songs like blistering opener "Catatonia" and the scattershot crunch of "Psychonautic State" give Fossor plenty to work with: this is vibrant, untamed power metal with no obvious, geographical limitations, neither rooted in European sheen, nor the more muscular bombast of its US equivalent. Instead, songs are built from all-encompassing melodic metal ingredients and played with a fiery intensity that makes most modern trad metal sound myopic and muted by comparison.

The finest moments arrive when THEM dial down the narrative and go straight for the metal jugular. "Remember To Die" is an unashamed speed metal ripper, with all the power and precision of prime MEGADETH, and an instant anthem with a lethal sting in its tail. "EvilDeed" takes a trip to the Bay Area for some pumped-up thrash powered by relentless double kicks and gritty, syncopated riffs; and "The Scarlett Remains" splits the difference between pounding, METAL CHURCH-style classicism and grim, dirty riffing with one foot in modern metal's extremity, with all the theatricality and bluster that THEM's lyrical sensibilities demand. Meanwhile, closing epic "Troubled Minds" is simply brilliant: proggy, pugnacious and steeped in unsettling melodrama, it ends "Psychedelic Enigma" with a haughty display of ensemble prowess, pushing Fossor's cautionary declarations to the fore, but underpinning them with tightly plotted twists and turns, drenching the whole thing with a foreboding atmosphere that is in no way alleviated by the album's mischievous, spoken word coda.

More importantly, THEM continue to make colorful and explosive metal records that provide enough depth, both musically and conceptually, to keep fans on board for the long haul. Vastly more entertaining than the power metal average, "Psychedelic Enigma" is an invigorating, celluloid-infused nightmare with immense charm and songs that stick like a dagger between the shoulder blades.