Rating: 9/10
Label: Frontiers 2011
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
So, what were the odds that Royal Hunt would come up with an album like this in 2011? The band's output for the last 10 years has been... well, it has its' merits but to be honest with you, I haven't been too excited about albums like "Collision Course" or "Paper Blood". I actually haven't even heard their previous one "X". So, despite the fact that the band recently re-united with DC Cooper, the vocalist on their biggest albums "Moving Target" and "Paradox", I didn't dare to hope that they'd record a real killer album. I thought that the days of Andre Andersen writing big, melodic choruses were over, but I was wrong. Very wrong.
"Collision Course" was said to be a sequel of the "Paradox" album, and maybe lyrically it was, but when it comes to the music, "Show Me How To Live" is much closer to it in style. It's big, orchestrated, epic and layered, but in the heart of all this there are some exceptionally catchy and melodic songs. Not to mention the voice of Mr. Cooper, who is still one of the finest singers of the genre.
The highlights for me are "Another Man Down" and "Half Past Loneliness", to name a couple. As for the weaker tracks... well, I haven't really warmed up to "An Empty Shell", but that's about it! This is one of the strongest albums of the year, and definitely the best Royal Hunt album since "Paradox". Yes folks, the Hunt is on again!
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