Among the Gods, Hollowed Be Thy Name and Temple of the Sun just weren’t that quality albums to put Mob Rules as a pioneer of the melodic metal scene. Now, a new album has been recorded which I actually did look forward to, because of the impressive live DVD that was released last year. Also, the band has gone through two line-up changes which could lead into fresh ideas.

And fresh ideas were constructed. With Ethnolution A.D. the ethnological development of our planet has been the inspiration for the 25 minute concept the album starts with, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Middle East conflict. What surprised me the most when listening to this album, was the pure balance that is included in the songs. Where the band used to rely on fine metal songs, they used to get back to some unfortunate decisions such as uneasy changes in the songs. On this album, that is totally gone and combining that fact with the fine production (and those typical Mob Rules keyboards) has resulted in the finest album of the band so far.

Unfortunately the highlight of Ethnolution A.D. consists of the first concept of songs. Klaus Dirks is going back to the high vocals a bit too much but he’s doing a fine job again and according to the songwriting, the band now does know how to change between heaviness and calmness. My personal highlight of this concept is ‘The Last Farewell’ where the great heavy guitar riffs are present the most.
 

The rest of the album seems like a bit of an obliged thing. Maybe this is due to the fact that these songs are placed after the concept but ‘Day in a Lifetime’ is a pretty boring song with an awful keyboard part and looks a bit cliché. On the other hand, ‘A New Horizon’ does show a tremendous sound that will sure do a great job live. Finally I want to address ‘Better Morning’ where the band shows it is able to come up with even sensitive songs.

Considering the whole album I must say that Mob Rules has come up with their best release so far. Hopefully it will provide the band a big European tour to promote an album which can’t simply be denied. After this record I’d say that Mob Rules has really put themselves in the top of melodic metal.