THEM – Psychedelic Enigma

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  THEM
• Duration: 00:59:07
• Available from: 10/24/2025
• Label:

• Steamhammer Records

In our genre of reference, it frequently happens that we come across groups that, on an iconographic but also stylistic level, do not limit themselves to 'taking inspiration from…' but go directly to the next level of 'copying', or to be less blunt, 'emulating' a certain attitude of a historical band that achieved success long before them; the examples are endless, from Airbourne with AC/DC to Hammer King with Powerwolf, and Them also fit comfortably into this well-defined ensemble, a combo that already from the chosen moniker – a direct reference to King Diamond's much celebrated 1988 LP – could betray itself and reveal to the whole world who the 'plundered' subject is.
This introduction applies to what we have heard so far, therefore, as a well-known football streamer would say, on paper these are Them.
But today, the situation has changed. Led by the King Diamond-wanna-be frontman Troy 'KK' Norr, identical to the original in make-up and very similar vocally, these singular musicians from the United States and Germany are preparing to distribute their fifth LP entitled “Psychedelic Enigma” to the general public under the aegis of Steamhammer, very often synonymous with quality and attention to detail that mark the difference between a fair and a good result.
Produced by Randy Burns, this new concept album with a horror background, a constant of the house, represents the most raw, powerful and high level of sound 'heaviness' episode of the group: it would not be correct to speak of a stylistic change, the trademark remains that represented by a substantial heavy metal with US power nuances and thrash accents, but comparing this album with its predecessors, several moments come to mind in which the accelerator actually goes to double, and it also deviates from the prevailing model of which it is spoke at the beginning.

“Remember To Die”, for example, after an interlocutory minute, releases, to the sound of double pedals, blast-beats and tight riffs, those thrash cues mentioned above, all surrounded by the falsetto stolen from KK Norr's King Diamante, the latter at ease even in the roughest and most ungainly parts exactly like his Danish master.
But the news is not over: the reader is invited to examine a piece like “Phsychonautic State” in which we find Voivod, Vektor, in short, clear progressive inserts in an artistic background that until “Fear City” of 2022 we would never have imagined being part of the compositional nucleus of Them; we must therefore first of all congratulate the quintet as a whole, since each of the members has given their contribution in the compositional phase, and the progress achieved is there for all to see.
Net of some overly obvious copying – such as the refrain “The Scarlet Remains” which is too Hetfield-like from the “Black Album” or some passages which are really too slavish to the works of the Mercyful Fate frontman – and net of the excessive overall length of the album which in our opinion risks undermining the complete involvement of the listener, Them have nevertheless created the most complete work of their discography to date, and the final triptych which has as its crown jewel (sic) the the lilting “Electric Church” is on the pedestal to prove it: the two axes of Ullrich and Johansson manage to create captivating melodies, now in an acoustic version, now in a distorted version, through which the horror story coming from the pens of our band can be fully realized in the final “Troubled Minds”, spoiled as we were saying by the excessive length, but unassailable from an artistic point of view.

“Psychedelic Enigma” can therefore very well be counted among the best releases of this last part of 2025; it is not 'packaged' to please a single limited category of enthusiasts, something that we often find ourselves underlining in our reviews, but is free to vary, explore alternative paths without (almost) ever losing overall effectiveness.
For a band that was born way back in 2008 as a simple tribute band to King Diamond as a soloist, the result is to be taken into great consideration and, with their second product from an important label like Steamhammer, Them amaze, convince and manage to break away more decisively from the stylistic features that have characterized, and in a certain sense also limited, their previous path.