Majestica (formerly ReinXeed) is a

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band from

Boden, Sweden Boden (, outdatedly ) is a locality and the seat of Boden Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 16,847 inhabitants in 2018. It is part of the larger area around coastal city Luleå some southeast. After Kiruna, it is the second largest t ...

. They were formed in 2000 by vocalist Tommy Johansson. They are influenced by

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

focused films such as ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' and bands like

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...

with

Michael Kiske Michael Kiske (born January 24, 1968) is a German singer and lead vocalist for the German power metal band Helloween. Kiske has released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock ...

, and

Rhapsody of Fire Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre. Since forming in 1993 as Thundercross, the band h ...

. In 2008, Majestica released their first studio album ''The Light'' with

Rivel Records Liljegren Records / CMSweden is a Swedish heavy metal music record label founded by Christian Liljegren (formerly of Narnia) in 1997. The label was originally titled C.L. Music and Distribution but was changed later. Notable current and former ...

. This helped the band land an appearance in Japan where they gained fans. They have released seven full studio albums.

History

Majestica (originally known as ReinXeed) was created by Tommy Johansson in

. ReinXeed was originally Johansson's solo project and on the debut album, The Light, he played every instrument. Daniel Eskilsson, the drummer, and band leader of the Swedish melodic power metal band Majestic Vanguard, heard early versions of the songs Johansson posted to his MySpace page and put him in touch with Christian Liljegren of

/ CM Sweden.

Jani Stefanovic Jani Stefanovic (born 23 May 1979) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist that primarily plays Swedish death metal. Jani started playing around the age of 13–14 years old. Personal life Jani was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to a Finnish mother and a ...

co-produced and mixed the album and handled all the drums on the album. It was released on 12 March 2008 in Japan, 6 June in Europe, via

. The album allowed Johansson to recruit a band: two guitarists, Kerry Lundberg and Mattias Johansson, keyboardist Henrik Fellermark, drummer Erik Forsgren and bassist Ace Thunder to record and release ''Higher''. The band's next album, ''1912'', is a concept album about the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' and its sinking. The Japanese edition includes three bonus tracks: "ReinXeed Alliance", "Aces High" (an

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

cover) and "Pray for Japan", a song written and recorded to support Japan in the aftermath of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. ''Welcome to the Theater'' was released in May 2012. ''A New World'' was released in 2013 with a new line up. Shortly after that Tommy decided to take a break from music completely, and one year later him, Chris and Alexander decided to "get back on the horse again" and started to write new songs. In 2018 they performed at the Sabaton Open Air festival in Sweden. This was their first show in 5 years and was also the last show as ReinXeed because they decided they needed a fresh start as a band included a new name. The band changed their name in 2019 from ReinXeed to Majestica upon their signing with record label

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. The album ''Above The Sky'' was announced to be released on 7 June 2019. In the buildup to the release of the album, lyric videos for the songs ''Rising Tide'' and ''Night Call Girl'' were made available. The same day the album was released, an official music video for the title track was also released. With regard to that song in particular, Tommy says "that song is completely about Power Metal. How Power Metal is the best music in the world, and how it makes you feel when you listen to it. It's also a tribute to one of the best songs in the world, 'Eagle Fly Free' y Helloween. In October 2020, their next album was announced. "A Christmas musical power metal album ''A Christmas Carol''. It's pure symphonic power metal in the true Majestica spirit along with elements inspired by the likes of Twilight Force, Rhapsody, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman and John Williams. With regards to the musical direction for the album he added, "Once again people can expect real power metal, but this time it's a bit more symphonic and epic compared to our previous album ''Above the Sky''. When it comes to the symphonic parts we've taken it a bit further and included a lot more orchestral instruments, including tubular bells, glockenspiel and sleigh bells to really get that Christmas sound to it. Ahead of the ''A Christmas Carol'' album being released, music videos for the songs ''Ghost of Christmas Past'' and ''Ghost of Marley'' were made available. The album was released on 4 December 2020 as was an official music video for the song ''The Joy of Christmas''. In early 2021 a European tour described as "a unique 'Power Metal meets Musical' staging of ''A Christmas Carol'' by Charles Dickens." was announced to take place in December 2021. In June 2021, a digital 2-track single featuring live performances from the second of two shows they played in Tokyo in early 2020 was released. The two songs being ''Above the Sky'' and ''Welcome to the Theatre'' (the title track of the 2012 ReinXeed album). An official live music video capturing the performance of 'Above The Sky' was released as well.

Band members

* Tommy "ReinXeed" Johansson – lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards, orchestration * Chris David – bass, lead vocals * Joel Kollberg – drums * Petter Hjerpe - rhythm guitar Former * Uli Kusch – drums * Alexander Oriz – rhythm guitar, backing vocal (2012–2021)

Discography

As ReinXeed

* ''The Light'' (2008) * ''Higher'' (2009) * ''Majestic'' (2010) * ''1912'' (2011) * ''Welcome to the Theater'' (2012) * ''A New World'' (2013) On compilation albums * ''Swedish Hitz Goes Metal'' (2011) * ''Swedish Hitz Goes Metal Vol.2'' (2013)

As Majestica

* ''Above the Sky'' (2019) * ''A Christmas Carol'' (2020) * ''A Christmas Carol (Extended Version)'' (2021)

References

{{Authority control Swedish symphonic metal musical groups Swedish power metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2004 Musical quartets Nuclear Blast artists