Album Review: Dynazty - Final Advent

I find it rather interesting when there is a band who makes music I think it good, and I do like, yet I never find myself listening to them. Some bands slip out of my thoughts as soon as I'm not being prompted to remember them, and they stay in the ether until the next time someone mentions their name to me. I don't quite understand why that is, and I'm not sure I could explain the feeling either, but bands like Dynazty have never made a deep impression with me, even though I think they should have. Music is a funny thing, and our tastes are fickle, so maybe all of this is written off as coincidence.

Dynazty now, like always, make slick pop metal that blends mechanically heavy riffs with bouncing choruses designed to worm their way into your head. They are, in that way, similar to Amaranthe, minus the multiple singers. Pop and metal put together, especially if done well, should be right up my alley. So why do Dynazty always seem to be forgotten?

I think it comes down to the lack of something unique to make them stand out from the other bands that are doing much the same thing. Their guitars seldom play the sorts of riffs that bury themselves into my consciousness. With the focus firmly on the vocals, Nils' voice is wonderful, but it's also very conventional. He sounds similar to many other metal singers, and picking out what 'the Dynazty sound' is proves rather difficult. Most great bands have something about their sound you can pick out right away as being them and no one else. Dynazty doesn't.

If we take this album in a vacuum, the judgment is very different. For the most part, Dynazty delivers strong melodic metal that has plenty of charm, and a high enjoyment factor. Sure, there are some moments that don't work, like the vocal cadences in the verses of "Advent", but the band generally knows what they're doing, and deliver what we are expecting of them.

This is an album that's slickly produced, sounding absolutely massive. It's powerful, and the choruses are layered for even more power. There's not much to fault in the way this record is put together. And yet, I still find myself not being as drawn in by the songs as I should be. They tread the same ground, but Amaranthe's songs have deeper hooks. Another of the benchmarks for this sound, James LaBrie's "Impermanent Resonance" also grabs me far harder than Dynazty is able to. The quality is there, but something intangible is missing.

So what I can say about "Final Advent" is that Dynazty continue to deliver quality pop metal, and I'm sure it will hold a lot of appeal for the majority of the people inclined to that sound. For reasons I'm not going to be able to fully explain, I'm just not one of them. I won't deny their craft, or their ability, but their voice doesn't resonate with me. Dynazty are good, and I like this album just fine, but it's never going to become a part of me.