Battlelore – “Third Age of the Sun”
Since Battlelore’s purpose in life is to be masters in the realms of Tolkien-inspired metal, image is important. The five men and two women wear European-fantasy-barbarian-warrior clothing. They carry axes and knives when posing for pictures. The artwork depicts three persons/elves with pointy ears. The lyrics speak of elves, trolls, orcs and forests. I have not and under no circumstances will I ever, ever read the Tolkien books; therefore, I cannot present a more informed description of the images/pictures. I’m sure everybody else who is a J.R.Tolkien weirdo/reader will know better than I do. Maybe Andy Milonakis knows better? What will you actually hear in terms of music when you put this cd on, then? You will hear metal with two faces: (1) the low-tuned, stomping, midpaced, superheavy guitar metal with very low, gruff growling and (2) the folky, gothy, piano, synth/keyboards, soft mellow parts with female, smooth singing. The smooth parts sound like goth/folk rock and the heavy parts like some sort of polished death-ish metal. One fact is beyond criticism: Battlelore is good at what they do. The songs are coherent and performed well. Even though the gruff vocals are guttural, the surrounding elements soften the overall feel to create a hard/soft music balance that is remarkably memorable and immediate in its impact. If you are Tolkien-obsessed (get a life!), then you will most likely worship Battlelore because Battlelore was made for loving you, baby.