Description

2024 re-issue in jewelcase. For the first time a booklet with lyrics. Limited 500 copies

Brocas Helm has been around for over twenty years, and this is only their third album. The fact that they’re still unsigned while countless lesser metal acts are being snapped up and marketed as if they were the next best thing is almost criminal. ‘Defender of the Crown’ actually consists of material that spans the years of Brocas Helm’s career: material that has only seen the light of day on demos and various 7 inch vinyls until this album. ‘Children Of The Nova Dawn’ is actually the very first song the band ever wrote so its nice to see that it finally gets recorded. I actually think this band has improved a hell of a lot since ‘Into Battle’. I like that album but there were certain elements that I felt didn’t quite jell with the bands over all sound. However, even back then the true atmosphere and sound of the band: grand, somewhat folk inspired metal that somehow managed to be epic without containing any lengthy songs, shone through. This is all even more evident on their latest opus. The folk-isms are stronger, the songs are huge, epic and intricate, yet surprisingly the longest track on here is less than five and a half minutes long! I’d say it’s remarkable that Brocas Helm has managed to achieve this level of complexity and scope of songwriting without even touching the sprawling lengths of some of their contemporaries’ tracks. The key here is, I think, that the band’s songs are so involved and there’s so much going on that it’s almost as if the listener completely loses track of time. At the end of each song, you’ll probably be saying to yourself, ‘damn, that was only four minutes of music?’ Sometimes I do wish the band would play around with ideas a little more though. For example, the title track is a highlight, but it just seems so short that one can’t help but want more! It’s a minor quibble, though, all the same. The rock n’ rollisms from ‘Into Battle’ are still somewhat present, but they’re handled better, and the stronger vocals of Bobby Wright certainly help out a great deal. The vocals are all over the place on many of these songs, and often multi-tracked at various unexpected points within each song. They’re not really spectacular as such, but they have personality to them and help the songs gain some much needed catchiness. ‘Defender Of The Crown’ might not be for everyone, as it frankly doesn’t have the catchiness and easy hooks that makes heavy metal accessible to ‘the masses’. However, if you can digest Brocas Helm’s intricate and frantic style of playing, and like your metal delivered with 100% conviction and integrity, you simply must have this in your collection.

Track listing:
1. Cry Of The Banshee
2. Defender Of The Crown
3. Skullfucker
4. Drink And Drive
5. Blood Machine
6. Preludious
7. Ghost Story
8. Helms Deep
9. Juggernaut
10. Time Of The Dark
11. Never Kissed Goodbye
12. War Toons
13. Persian Gulf
14. Children Of The Nova Dawn
15. Drink The Blood Of The Priest