Triumph in Bloomington, MN

Remember in the late '80s, when
Led Zeppelin
clones were at a premium (
Kingdom Come
,
Bonham
, etc.)? Well, although
the Quill
isn't as instantly smirk-inducing as some of the aforementioned bands, they definitely have studied their
Zeppelin
and other '70s-era classic
rock
records, as evidenced by their 2006 release
In Triumph
. After all, singer
Magnus Ekwall
certainly has
Robert Plant
's "cat in heat" vocals down pat, while guitarist
Christian Carlsson
has obviously studied
Jimmy Page
's guitar grandeur. Case in point,
"Broken Man"
sounds like it's straight off of
Whitesnake
's
Slide It In
, while the album-opening
"Keep the Circle Whole"
would have fit snuggly on the self-titled debut by
Badlands
. For fans of bands influenced by the mighty
Zep
's fifth full-length release definitely aims to please. But you get the feeling that if
was released, say, in 1988 or 1989, the group would have challenged the likes of
Great White
for valuable
MTV
and radio space. In 2006, however, the album comes off as a bit of an anachronism. ~ Greg Prato