Falconer: Mathias Blad (vocals); Stefan Weinerhall (guitars, keyboards); Jimmy Hedlund (guitars); Magnus Linhardt (bass guitar); Karsten Larsson (drums).

Personnel: Anders Wangdahl, Evelyn Jons (vocals, background vocals); Johannes Nyberg (piano).

One of the premier bands to merge rudiments of power metal with medieval, European folk music, Sweden's Falconer continues to display genuine compositional ability with AMONG BEGGARS AND THIEVES. The quintet's sixth studio release sounds less like its earlier, Helloween-inspired power anthems and more in line with the current movement of vibrant, pagan folk metal, ? la Turisas and Eluveitie--Falconer has come quite a long way from its roots as the Viking death metal act Mithotyn.

In a pseudo-conceptual album that deals with the depression and poverty of medieval Sweden, Falconer's music is, ironically, energetic. Produced, engineered, and mastered by Andy LaRoque (King Diamond), and driven by powerful guitar passages in addition to Mathias Blad's honeyed vocals, AMONG BEGGARS AND THIEVES is a melodic masterwork.