Ever since we were first impressed by the debut album from Mad Hatter’s Den, Welcome To The Den, we’ve been eagerly awaiting more music from this talented outfit and they’re now back with their second album Excelsior, which picks up right where the previous release left off.
Excelsior is a fantastic piece that plays on Mad Hatter’s Den’s strengths, with plenty of big memorable songs that will inevitably wind up stuck in your head, and it’s one of those albums that can’t just be listened to once – by the time it comes to a close, you’ll be wanting to go back to the beginning and start again.
Guardian Angel is a particular high point of Excelsior. Starting as a slower track, the track slowly builds up into a triumphant epic with an absolutely tremendous guitar solo, and it also features one of the stand-out vocal performances of the whole album. Another strong inclusion is an earlier song, Birds Of Prey, and although it starts off sounding like somewhat of a rip-off of a Sabaton track thanks to the striking synth introduction, it soon comes into its own and the energy behind the delivery of every element on the track is something to behold.
Mad Hatter’s Den have done it again with Excelsior – this is a band that’s on top of their game right now and it’s surely only a matter of time before they make it big.
9/10
