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PECTORA
Twilight Knights

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 6/10

Why this is only the Danish band’s second full-length album since forming in 2011 we will never know, but the wonderfully decorated Twilight Knights is a welcome addition to any collection. Since 2020 Pectora has featured a “new” vocalist in Philip Butler, who replaces Kenneth Jacobsen who sang on the 2019 debut album Untaken. The rest of the line-up still features original guitarists Morten S. Nielsen and Søren Weiss Kristiansen alongside drummer Nicolas Kraunsøe Frandsen, while in 2023 Gustav Solberg took up bass duties.

What you get here is a straight up heavy metal platter that mixes early Queensrÿche, Dio, Iron Maiden and the likes, the result being a rather no frills but accomplished rocker that’s meaty and melodic, although overall lacks staying power on the stereo. That’s not to say that quality is lacking because it’s all very fluid, at times even reminding me of Nevermore, but there’s so much of this metal around that it is going to take something very special to stand out among the glut of throwback bands.

I guess my main quibble here is the unevenness because while ‘Victory In Defeat’ boasts that nostalgic, old school fire – as does the title track – there are a few songs such as ‘Cold Void’ that feel too contemporary and colourless. Strangely, after a handful of rather uneventful songs (‘A Race Through The Dark’ and ‘Children Of The Atom’) the band whips up a nine-minute finale in the form of ‘On Forlorn Wings’ which is brooding yet tight and melodic.

I just feel that Pectora is a confused beast, one still yet to find a true identity amidst what are out of place grooves and some awkward vocal shifts. I’m sure ravenous metalheads will lap this up, but for me it is lacking in several departments.

Neil Arnold

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