When looking at the history of metal, there's no shortage of families making their names together. Whether it be the Abbott brothers in Pantera, the Cavaleras in Sepultura, or the Gallaghers in Raven (still the only Gallagher brothers worth listening to,) or rock stars recruiting their children to perform with them such as Udo Dirkschneider and Max Cavalera. Some people might dismiss the latter as nepotism, but when the offspring are genuinely talented, there shouldn't be any complaints, and that's exactly the case for Tungsten, formed by ex-Hammerfall drummer Anders Johansson, along with his sons Nick and Karl. The three started the group, alongside vocalist Mike Andersson, in 2016 and released their debut, "We Will Rise" in 2019. Fast forward five years and Tungsten are ready to release their fourth studio effort, "The Grand Inferno."

Not being familiar with the band's previous albums, I only had a vague idea of what to expect, which might be why the electronic and industrial sounds caught me off guard at the beginning of "Anger." Perhaps unsurprisingly for fans drawn in by Anders Johansson's previous work, the drums immediately play a huge role throughout the album, especially on the following track, "Blood Of The Vikings," where the drums shine. It's fairly typical power metal fare, but very well done and exciting. The same can be said of another of the album's singles, "Walborg," which bounces tremendously.

There's some good use of different influences and elements on "The Grand Inferno," particularly on the title track, a song that fully deserves to have a record named after it. It's got a sense of melancholy about it, without veering into power ballad territory, emitting the aura of a panicked cry for sanity in an area gone mad. Elsewhere, the electronic traits are best used at the end of the album, as "Angel Eyes" closes the journey really well and contains an uplifting chorus that elevates the listener's mood, like a happy ending to a movie.

As mentioned, there's quite a bit of electronic and industrial sounds on "The Grand Inferno," and while I'm not opposed to this, they have to be utilised well. Some songs take these influences on board but don't really know what to do with them, such as "Vantablack," a track that opens with some scratches and sound effects and becomes pretty messy, pretty quickly. Indeed, the following song, "Me, Myself, My Enemy" features some incredibly silly noises added for no discernible reason, spoiling what would otherwise have been a fine song. Actually, the album as a whole stutters massively from "Vantablack" until "Angel Eyes," with some of the songs feeling bland and uninteresting, while others, like I said, feeling more than a little cluttered.

Ultimately, "The Grand Inferno" begins very well, but it peaks halfway through and what's left is a rather puzzling collection of songs that don't seem to know what their goals are. There's plenty to enjoy and I doubt longtime fans of the band will feel aggrieved, at least not by much if they do, and my curiosity to dig deeper into their back catalogue, maybe see them live one day, remains the same. Tungsten remains one of the more intriguing, younger names in power metal and this certainly won't put fans off following them or seeing where they go from here, but I doubt "The Grand Inferno" will go down as their strongest work.