Nils Patrik Johansson – War and Peace Review

By Andy-War-Hall

Nils Patrik Johansson has sung in metal bands for almost as long as I’ve done anything on this Earth. Lending his gritty, commanding voice to acts like Astral Doors, Wuthering Heights, and Civil War since 2002, NPJ is someone with history behind him, as well as a man with history on the mind. War and Peace, the third album of his eponymous act Nils Patrik Johansson, offers forty minutes of epically inclined heavy/power metal, themed primarily on history. Topics range from the two World Wars and Gustav Vasa’s Rebellion to matters like environmentalism and his love for Hungarian rock music.1 But twenty-three years is a long time to do anything, and the Law of Diminishing Records spares few souls. Is War and Peace another victory for NPJ, or is it time for him to wave the white flag?

If my description of War and Peace put you in mind of a certain other Swedish war-themed power metal band, you’re not far off: it does sound like Civil War! From mid-paced stompers like “Barbarossa” to double-kick speedsters like “Gustav Vasa,” Johansson belts over crunchy, synth-laden power metal keen on getting lodged into the listener’s noggin like shrapnel. Hooks are aplenty on War and Peace, particularly poignant on the high-energy “The Great Wall of China” and the Wuthering Heights-folksiness of “Prodigal Son.” Songwriting is tight, keeping tracks around four or five minutes with little in the way of gratuitous soloing or meandering instrumentals. War and Peace does nothing groundbreaking, but on a genuinely delightful ditty like “Prodigal Son” or a fist-pumping rager like “Barbarossa,” how much does that matter?

Well, unoriginality matters when most of the songs aren’t very good, either. Nils Patrik Johansson packs few weapons in their war chest for War and Peace, and what few they possess have some defects. When War and Peace slows down, like on the overwrought “Stay Behind” or the throwaway instrumental opener “Himalaya,” things build up to nothing and stay there, making for lethargic and unfun listens. When speeding up, Johansson doesn’t always deliver when it matters, like on the bare-bones chorus of “Gustav Vasa” or the tuneless belting of the “Hungarian Dance” refrain. The streamlined songwriting also tends towards the formulaic. Almost every song has the standard pop structure and a bookend/closing instrumental “tag” that feels superfluous, like the “Star Spangled Banner” Hendrix rip finishing “Stay Behind” or the tokenized Chinese string and choir motif in “The Great Wall of China.” Overall, most of War and Peace feels hollow, taking the shape of good songs but lacking substance.

Beyond its structural issues, War and Peace is just an awkward listen. NPJ’s vocals are proficient and enjoyable, replete with his iconic warbling vibrato and snarling Dio-isms, but he leans into these techniques so much it can come off as campy. This is particularly bad in the quieter moments of War and Peace, like the piano bridge of “Gustav Vasa” or the verses of “Stay Behind,” where his deliveries are so exaggerated they can feel like caricature. Similarly, what’s being said can be hard and/or regrettable to follow. The final trio of songs exemplifies the lyrical woes of War and Peace: over-repetition (“Hungarian Dance,” “Two Shots in Sarajevo”) confused messaging (“Hungarian Dance,” “The Great Wall of China”), and clumsy wording (“The Great Wall of China,” “Two Shots in Sarajevo”).2 When the songs aren’t very good, these kinds of concerns grow from minor quibbles to major issues rapidly.

Surrender is never an option, but War and Peace is no victory for Nils Patrik Johansson. Too often, War and Peace is too overwrought, too underwritten, and too derivative of both other bands’ and Johansson’s own works. Toss in some wince-able lyricism, and you’ve got yourself a tough listen. But even when making a bad album, NPJ can still drop bangers like “Prodigal Son” and “Barbarossa,” so it’s not a complete loss. However, as a complete work, I’m peacing out on War and Peace.

Rating: Bad
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Metalville
Website: facebook.com/nilspatrikjohansson
Releases Worldwide: October 10th, 2025

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Soulbound – obsYdian Review

By Kenstrosity

Long time readers understand that I like damn near any kind of metal. If it’s got heavily distorted guitars and big, bloodied hooks, I’m on board. My eclecticism inside the metalverse affords me a rare kind of versatility when it comes to review duties, too. Anything that falls into my lap has a chance to get a proper sponge bath. However, sometimes a band does a bunch of stuff that I normally enjoy and yet, my enthusiasm falters. Most of the time, that’s a simple conflict. I just don’t like the songs, even if I like the format. That, dear readers, is precisely the case for German “wedon’tgiveafuckmetal”1 outfit Soulbound and their fourth LP, obsYdian.

Does anybody remember Powerman 5000? I do. They had some straight-up bangers in their time, like “When Worlds Collide” and “Bombshell.” Sadly, their legacy is one of pure novelty and nostalgia. Undeterred by such circumstances, Soulbound cut their sound from the same cloth, interweaving pop metal elements reminiscent of Amaranthe; creepy gothic industrial rock similar to some of Marilyn Manson’s work; and stompy riffs and a genuinely vicious scream pulled straight from the Static-X playbook. With obsYdian, Soulbound integrated a new, updated thread of synthwave influence into their Eurovision-ready bops, which happens to be a major draw for this reviewer in 2024. And yet, obsYdian still grinds my gears.

Frustration floods my system every time I spin obsYdian. From the start of its overlong instrumental intro to a bizarre two-part closer, Soulbound make questionable choices that keep me listening almost entirely out of morbid curiosity. Starting off with a powerful dose of cringe, opener “Burn” serenades my inner angsty teen with shouts of “BURN, MOTHERFUCKER” against a backdrop of base chuggery. In fact, “motherfucker” features an egregious number of times for a band claiming to give no fucks to begin with. Other missteps include “Lioness,” which I hypothesize speaks on struggling with mental illness, heartbreak, or uncontrolled drug use. Any one of those holds potential for a great theme, but “Lioness” kicks off on a confusing note—a howling wolf—and further befuddles with chorus lyrics that muddle the message beyond easy deduction. Outside of those memorably unfortunate moments in the first half, the bulk of obsYdian fails to make any impression one way or the other. Inoffensive tracks like “Insane” and “Isolate” fight hard for my attention with superficially hooky licks and aggressive bounce. Yet, I remain wholly unmoved. Finally, I reach a real head-scratcher with obsYdian’s bewildering closing duo. “Remain (Part 1),” an ill-fated, three-minute, sappy sadboi ballad, wasn’t the best choice for a late album tuck-in to start with, but Soulbound paired it with a truly puzzling consort: “Remain (Part 2).” After “(Part 1)” ends, “(Part 2)” reprises the main theme of “(Part 1),” at half-time, with orchestral bombast, ad nauseam for a whopping seven minutes of mind-numbing buzzkillery. What the hell is even that?

In all fairness, Soulbound do know their way around a sharp hook once they find one. Top selections like the synthwave worshipping “Forever in the Dark,” the anthemic “Saint Sinner,” and the dance party-ready “Paralyzed” might be cheesy and somewhat oversimplified, but they get my head bobbing and I can’t help but hum each one absentmindedly while out and about. On the sonic front, Soulbound’s shift into synthwave territory suits their particular use of melody wonderfully, especially compared to the more industrial crunch of past records. I hope they capitalize on that further going forward. However, the increased volume of moody ballads like “Heartless” in the back half significantly brings the album’s energy down—enough to discourage replays. My suggestion would be to either revisit and develop those ballads into incontrovertibly captivating showstoppers, or cut them entirely in exchange for one or two more infectious bops like “Forever in the Dark” and “Paralyzed” instead.

Soulbound adopted a sonic palette and a poppy songwriting approach that should’ve wholly resonated with me. It checks a lot of my more superficial boxes. However, I’ve been listening to this kind of music for decades now, and demand more hype and substance than what obsYdian offered. Ultimately, I’m hard-pressed to recommend all but a scant three songs to this readership, and even those come with caveats. That said, you’ll hear no judgment from me should you like Soulbound more than I. It’s just not for me.

Rating: Bad.
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metalville
Website: facebook.com/MusicSoulbound
Releases Worldwide: July 26th, 2024

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