Description

Where The Shadows Lie album of Battlelore was one of the most successful debuts in 2002, featuring unusual mix of almost every single metal genre and inspired by works of JJR Tolkien. They successfully jumped out of the millions of Blind Guardian copycats by creating music that's really fresh. Their second full-length album, Swords Song, was released in 2003, and to be honest – it didn't get my attention at start (since I got enough of sword-battle-victory-triumph-steel power metal bands), but I wanted to hear what Battlelore have become. And for my surprise, this was even better than Where The Shadows Lie. Swords Song proves to be one of the best releases of 2003 for sure. Filled with amazing songs like Sons of Riddermark (epic and with very catching tunes, sounding like a real hymn), Sword's Song (powerful, power-like with female vocals, and good contrast of soft/brutal passages), The Mark of the Bear (funky/electronic kind of a song, with death metal roots – fast and furious one), Attack the Orcs (death/doom/power metal – really heavy, really catchy – simply one of the most brutal and best songs this band has written), The War of Wrath (filled with symphonic arrangements, completely new atmosphere), Forked Height (which steps into more progressive kind of metal music, with complex arrangements and huge riffing)… only to mention a few… but the thing is that there is no bad song. Not even an average one. If Tolkien was ever to hire a band to do a soundtrack for his works – Battlelore would be the one. Track listing: 1. Sons Of Riddermark 2. Sword's Song 3. The Mark Of The Bear 4. Buccaneers Inn 5. Attack Of The Orcs 6. Dragonslayer 7. Khazad-Dum (Part 2) 8. Horns Of Gondor 9. The War Of Wrath 10. Forket Height 11. Starlight Kingdom