Royal Hunt - The Watchers

Rodrigo

Heat in 7
Apr 17, 2001
883
3
18
Southern California
ROYAL HUNT – THE WATCHERS
Century Media - 2002

By Rodrigo

For those who read my review of The Mission you should remember that I absolutely loved that album and praised it highly. So there was no doubt that I was highly looking forward to The Watchers which contains one new song "Intervention", four live songs and four studio songs from previous albums with John West singing and a radio version of "Intervention".

"Intervention" is a mammoth 14-minute song that flies by really quickly and it features amazing instrumental work from both Andre Andersen (keyboards) and Jacob Kjaer(guitar). John West (vocals) doesn’t come in until more than 5 minutes have passed and once again he sounds excellent. The vocal melodies of the chorus are simply addictive and catchy. John simply belongs with Royal Hunt and that opinion is solidified with hearing the songs that were previously recorded with other singers. The only other albums I heard from the band were the ones with D.C. Cooper and the only song from that era is a live version from "Message to God" and to me it just sounds a lot better now with John singing it. Most of the other songs, six in total, come from the first two studio releases Land of Broken Hearts and Clown in the Mirror. I have no idea how these versions (live or studio) sound to the original recordings but from what I hear with this release is that all these songs are really great. I especially like the speedy songs "Flight" and "Day In Day Out" as well as some of the slower ones like "Clown in the Mirror" and "Epilogue", I especially love the chorus and the keyboards that end the song. There is one song from Fear and that is "Lies" and I seriously have to check this album out because just based on this one song, it sounds like I will highly enjoy it.

So now I have a problem. I really enjoyed all of these songs but the original versions don’t have John singing them and I don’t know if I want to hear them. Nevertheless, this is simply a great treat for Royal Hunt fans and should become part of your collection!

Century Media Website
Royal Hunt Official Website