{"id":105339,"date":"2025-08-22T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105339"},"modified":"2025-09-08T13:50:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T12:50:59","slug":"album-review-mob-rules-rise-of-the-ruler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-mob-rules-rise-of-the-ruler\/","title":{"rendered":"MOB RULES – Rise Of The Ruler (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOB RULES
\nRise Of The Ruler<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRPM-ROAR (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the next episode of the prolific career of German metal monsters Mob Rules, although it\u2019s been seven years since their last album, Beast Reborn<\/em>. Since then the band has recruited two new members in guitarist Florian Dyszbali (2019) and drummer Sebastian Schmidt (2023), who link up with vocalist Klaus Dirks, guitarist Sven L\u00fcdke, bassist Markus Brinkmann and keyboardist Jan Christian Halfbrodt.<\/p>\n

With Mob Rules you can pretty much predict what\u2019s comin: powerful metallic metal that is an acquired taste in my house. I find this sort of power metal soulless and predictable, but I don\u2019t doubt the passion behind the songs. The addition of keyboards always brings a sense of atmosphere to what\u2019s offered and I\u2019m a big fan of Klaus\u2019s rich vocal tone, particularly on the faster songs such as \u2018Exiled\u2019 which comes to the fore after a Manowar-styled slice of narration.<\/p>\n

Much of what is served up is mid-paced, expansive and extremely melodic, but all too often glossy. However, there\u2019s always something grandiose, even cinematic, about the Mob Rules art of storytelling. \u2018Dawn Of Second Sun\u2019 is a strong example of this, especially if you have seen the accompanying music video.<\/p>\n

The guitarists are adept at constructing huge riffs, so a sense of the epic runs firmly through this affair and there are less frequent symphonic shades too. It\u2019s still hard metal, robust and slightly dystopian as Klaus fires off vocal rounds towards enemy lines, and that\u2019s what keeps me honed in. His versatility shows on acoustic ballad \u2018On The Trail\u2019, while on epic closer \u2018Equilibrium (Rise Of The Ruler)\u2019 his pipes bristle with fiery menace.<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure, Mob Rules know how to write a potent song, with another favourite being the speed metal foray of \u2018Future Loom\u2019. However, I\u2019m less than convinced by the poppy sensibilities of \u2018Nomadic Oasis\u2019, which although notably darker than other songs just doesn\u2019t sit right with me. Even so, the returning Mob Rules will be welcomed by many and should also attract new ones too, especially if they have a thirst for a power metal hybrid of Helloween and Iron Maiden.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOB RULES Rise Of The Ruler RPM-ROAR (2025) Rating: 7\/10 Here\u2019s the next episode of the prolific career of German metal monsters Mob Rules, although it\u2019s been seven years since their last album, Beast Reborn. Since then the band has recruited two new members in guitarist Florian Dyszbali (2019) and drummer Sebastian Schmidt (2023), who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,442],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-mob-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105340,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105339\/revisions\/105340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}