The Quill from Sweden have been around for quite a bunch of albums now, to be exact, “In Triumph” is their fifth outing. There's been a few albums that have been hailed as the bridge between 70’s hard rock and grunge, and I would say that “In triumph” is another good attempt to do just that. So although the band's sound has its roots in hard rock from the 70s, The Quill is an updated, modern and entirely crushing groove experience.

The production by Tommy Newton ( Helloween, Voodoo Cult, Crystal Ball) is excellent, he is really becoming one of the most important producers of the scene. As for the songs, you won't find anything below average here. Everything is perfectly balanced, every instrument pops out and the result is exactly what this hardworking band deserves. There is a lot of Soundgardengoing on here, with huge riffery and at times very Cornell- esque vocals, though the band does switch it up every now and then. The band keep their songs short (between three and five minutes each) as their rather simple verse-chorus-verse nature with a shredding solo in between would tend to make longer songs repetitive and boring. Some of the songs could easily have been from one of the later Sabbath albums “Heaven or hell” or “Mob rules” like “Merciless room” a great epic with a catchy chorus. Same goes with “Triumph is a sea of flame” and “Slave/master” which both have a big Iommi warning sign written all over them. Still these guys have a style of their own and songs like “Keep the circle whole” and “Broken man” are nice mixtures of classic hardrock and more up to date polished stoner rock ala newer Monster Magnet and Spiritual Beggars. Most of the music is fairly mid tempo in pacing, much in the same way a band like Alice In Chains would rumble along. My main criticism is reigning Magnus Ekwall’s occasionally excessive screaming in as his singing voice is more than capable of carrying the weight of the songs.

End result is that The Quill have delivered another “triumph”, and I'm sure the hard rock masses will eat this one up.

87/100

Cosmicmasseur.