ROYAL HUNT: Clown In The Mirror (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

"Clown In The Mirror" is Royal Hunt's second album. Released in 1993, four years after the birth of the combo, it was the last opus in which Henrik Brockmann, the original frontman, worked. D.C. Cooper will come afterwards destructuring the Danish hegemony of the band by his presence. At the end of 2018, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, "Clown In The Mirror" is offering itself a first-class facelift with its remastered release.

At this time, the omnipotent keyboardist André Andersen decided to bring his group to take a stylistic turn that would lead it step by step to the sounds that we know of him even today. Partly abandoned, the FM constants of the combo's first two opuses often leave room here for heavier, more symphonic and subtly progressive sounds.

It doesn't take the listener very long to realize that the story of Royal Hunt was at a turning point here, just enough time for a keyboard intro announcing a remarkable 'Wasted Time' that surprises by its lively rhythm. The insidious melodious catchphrases, another characteristic of the band, are still there but in a larger than life version where the verve-filled backing vocals compete with keyboards that fill the space with authority.

'On The Run' is in the same vein, its debut looks like a rough draft of the even more furious 'Lies' on the album 'Fear' that was released six years later. Also noteworthy is the magnificent 'Legion Of The Damned' whose melodious flights of fancy take to the guts and the less notable 'Here Today, Gone Tomorrow' despite some beautiful guitar parts. But it is the final title, the aptly named 'Epilogue', which will remain here engraved most deeply in the memory of the fans. This song is one of the monuments that made the glory of Royal Hunt who later paid him a long live tribute.

In spite of this fetish song, "Clown In The Mirror" did not break any sales records, perhaps due to its too great stylistic diversity because Royal Hunt, despite its new intentions, was still hesitating to fundamentally undertake its musical turn. Thus, the opus contains more classical and less striking tracks like 'Ten To Life', 'Bodyguard' and its jazz/funk bass or 'Bad Blood', a weary FM track. Nevertheless, this third album of the royal hunters deserves that we end on a positive tone about it, not forgetting the eponymous title, a ballad all in delicacy carried by the keyboards of the master of the place, the sensitivity of the touch of Jacob Kjaer the man with the six strings and the remarkable voice of the soon to be dismissed Henrik Brockmann.

"Clown In The Mirror" had not been able to benefit at the time from the more expensive production of Royal Hunt's most recent albums, it nevertheless deserved this remastered release because it was the pivotal album of this group which so often delighted us afterwards. The care given at the time to the conception of the grandiloquent movements developed here justified this enhancement. Rich idea that here it is! - Official website

ROYAL HUNT

CLOWN IN THE MIRROR

AUTRE LABEL

PROGRESSIVE METAL