Let’s say, hypothetically, you’re a band. You’ve been around for a bit, but are just coming off a lineup change and want to go long with your new personnel. In this situation, you could do a lot worse than “sounds kinda like HammerFall” with your final product. For their legacy, if not necessarily their more recent output, Messrs. Cans, Dronjak & Co. are one of the first names on any power metal team sheet. If you want to make a splash and play it safe at the same time, their classic Euro-power sound ain’t a bad place to start.

I say all this, because that’s kind of where we find ourselves with Veonity. With a new vocalist in tow, the Swedes have swung for precisely those fences on their new album The Final Element. (Even down to including a song called “Kings of Dreamland”!) The results? Overall, pretty good!

But for one particular change, the sonic cadence on The Final Element isn’t an enormous departure from Veonity’s previous template. The band’s always toed the line between a classic, Euro-power feel and a flair for the dramatic suggestive of… if not full-on symphonic metal, then at the very least of having listened to Twilight Force a few times.

In any case, their feel for melody and tempo has always come first — at times, even at the expense of the vocals. As good a job as now-former vocalist (but still-guitarist) Anders Sköld did behind the mic over the years, his performances could sometimes get lost in the mix. (He also dropped into the middle registers — where he was just “okay” — a bit more than you’d like, instead of sticking to the higher octaves, where he was actually pretty terrific.)

Enter Isak Stenvall, the band’s new vocalist on The Final Element, who’s not only more assured across all ranges, but also is afforded the luxury of being the center of attention more often than not. The album’s opener, “Premonition,” centering on a choral vocal chant feels like an announcement of sorts: it’s not just melody and tempo atop the Veonity menu anymore.

But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of both to go around. Early album cuts like “Chains of Tyranny” and “Horsemen of the Dark” show off the band’s continued flair for both full-throttle acceleration and absolutely triumphant choruses. (“Warriors Code” — arguably the catchiest thing here — also nails both.)

Drummer Joel Kollberg is still an absolute machine, and guitarists Sköld and Samuel Lundström still play tastefully off one another throughout. But Stenvall’s presence elevates the collective mightily. His soaring vocals lend a new level of power to the proceedings, with timbre and phrasing that recall Joacim Cans, Tony Kakko and other genre heavyweights in their primes.

Aside from the ham-fisted, mid-album pace changer, “Riders of the Revolution,” there aren’t many true missteps on The Final Element. Well, okay, that and the closing track, “The Fifth Element,” I guess. (No, it’s not called “The Final Element.” Come on, it would have been too easy to just share the title of the album.) It’s got some stuff going for it! Speedy pace? Check. Shreddy, neoclassical guitar parts? Also check. But it also very much wants to Be. The. Star. of this little show, and as a result… it comes off a little try-hardy. It’s fine! But it’s also… just fine.

In the end, there’s not really anything truly groundbreaking here, and Veonity’s not going to challenge your preconceptions of power metal. But it’s a solid debut for Stenvall, and more often than not, the sum of the band’s parts ends up being solid, reliable, 7-ish out of 10 power metal tunes. Ultimately, it’s a fun listen, and that’ll do just fine.

Keep it heavy,
—Dan

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The Final Element is available now via Scarlet Records. For more information on Veonity, visit the band’s official website.