Every year, there is at least one album that should have made my year list, but I got my hands on it too late. Persuader’s new album ‘Necromancy’ would have easily made this year’s top 10. Initially, I was mildly disappointed that their six-year album drought only resulted in seven recorded songs, but what the Swedish metal unit doe here in 44 minutes is simply incredible. In terms of sheer intensity and killer to filler ratio, ‘Necromancy’ might actually be the best Persuader album to date. It has all the propulsive riffing one could want topped off with some of the best vocals in the business.

One thing always plagued Persuader and that is the looming spectre of Blind Guardian. Jens Carlsson’s vocals sound eerily similar to Hansi Kürsch’s and like Kürsch, he likes layering his voice into bombastic choirs. Persuader was always notably more thrashy than the Germans, however, and when the band started experimenting with modern melodic death metal riffing around the time they started writing for ‘When Eden Burns’, they really found their own sound, which they perfected on ‘Necromancy’. Aggression, melody and bombast are in perfect balance, with the vicious riffs leaving ample room for Carlsson’s passionate vocal delivery.

In a way, it is kind of surprising that ‘Necromancy’ is as dynamic as it is, as all members turn the intensity dial way up throughout the album. Even when the guitars of Emil Norberg and Fredrik Mannberg open up to long ringing chords with soaring melodies in most of the choruses, drummer Efraim Juntunen drives the aggression forward with rolling double bass patterns and busy fills. During the instrumental sections, Norberg and Mannberg show equal parts of classic heavy metal majesty, an almost Nevermore-ish technical thrash approach and the melodic death metal riffing pioneered by At The Gates in the mid-nineties.

Picking highlights from ‘Necromancy’ is difficult, because the album is consistent both stylistically and in terms of quality. Variation is a thing Persuader strives for within their songs. For example, ‘Hells Command’ is largely a defiant upper mid-tempo stomper, but a melancholic guitar melody suddenly increases the song’s depth after its choruses. Opening track ‘The Curse Unbound’ is crammed full with incredible power/thrash riffs, with Juntunen frequently altering the time feel for dynamic excellence. Even the lengthy closer ‘The Infernal Fires’ doesn’t let up on the intensity. Sure, there is an acoustic intro and a somewhat proggy structure, but it is still defined by its powerful riffs.

Near the top of my list of metal bands that should be talked about far more frequently than they are is Persuader. Lacking promotion, constantly being mislabelled or at least incompletely labelled as power metal or other business-related issues are the only reasons I can think of, as their songs are always engaging, even mildly surprising, and – I’ll say it again – Jens Carlsson is one of the greatest heavy metal singers alive today. Anyone looking for something delightfully aggressive that doesn’t sacrifice any melody should give ‘Necromancy’ a chance. It’s one of the greatest Swedish metal albums of the last few years.

Recommended tracks: ‘The Curse Unbound’, ‘Raise The Dead’, ‘Scars’