Another Swedish band, another great comeback. “The Endtime Prophecy” is MORTALICUM’s second album and this one has the hard duty of living up to the expectations of the fans created by the absolute amazing debut of the band.

If you know who GRAND MAGUS are, then you’ll immediately recognize the style of the band. MORTALICUM play classic Heavy Metal with pinches of Doom (it wouldn’t be classic without the Doom). Without doubt, JUDAS PRIEST and WITCHFINDER GENERAL (listen to “My Dying Soul”, “Revelation Within”) are two more bands that played a definite role to the formation of the style of the band.

Henrik Högl’s vocals will always be the trademark of the MORTALICUM…and a point of dispute. Personally, I love the crystal clear tone of his voice but many find his style one-sided and colorless.

My absolute favorite of the record is entitled “When Hell Freezes Over” it is probably the doomiest track of the record but manages to mix DEEP PURPLE with TROUBLE in a unique way. Of course the rest of the tracks move in high standards but the record misses a great hit such as “Darkness All Around”, “The Voyager” from the debut.

It’s hard for a true Metal album to miss the point and “The Endtime Prophecy” hits bullseye. Yet the big question mark is if MORTALICUM do the extra mile to differentiate from the rest of the pile. My answer is almost. Sure the album is full of catchy choruses, memorable riffs but I am not quite certain if something will stick.

This is a highly enjoyable, great quality record. If you are a fan GRAND MAGUS then you simply owe it to yourself to check this band out starting from “The Progress of Doom”. If you are not in the mood for classic heavy metal, don’t even bother.