Two years ago or so I received the debut album of this Swedish classic metal outfit and I can’t say it really impressed me. Now two years later Cryonic Temple are back with their second effort “In Thy Power” which – due to the success of their debut – is released by no one less than Limp Music Products.

First of all, let me say that pretty much nothing has changed compared to “Bloods, Guts & Glory” and if you liked that release you can buy this one blindly. Cryonic Temple didn’t go down the same road as compatriot band Hammerfall but pretty much stuck to what they are good at: straightforward classic heavy metal. Therein lays right away my problem with this album. It’s all one big cliché of corny songs that might have had appeal in the eighties but in modern time have lost their charm.

Sure, it’s well played, it’s fast and furious, it’s catchy and it sails on the commercial success of bands like Hammerfall and the comeback of heavy metal in general but it’s so cliché it pains.

A cover in the usual fantasy style, although very good looking, is the icing on the cake. Or is it? No not really, the low point of this release is “Shark Attack”. The song is terrible but the lyrics are even worse.

Truth be told I might be biased towards this release since I’ve never been a big fan of Hammerfall either and I might make this album sound worse than it actually does but after listening to the zillionth classic metal act I’ve grown pretty jaded. “In Thy Power” isn’t a bad album, nor is it a good one. It’s average classic heavy metal with powerful hymns and straightforward riffing but it has the power to win you over and before you know it you are singing along. I guess, in the end, that’s all that matters.