Customer Reviews

Where the Shadows Lie

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is a definite must buy. I am also a fan of the band Summoning (which I reccomend) whoes mucic is also inspired by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien like Battlelore, however while Battlelore is a slightly different style of music it still properly conveys the mystique of middle earth. It is deep music with deep melody and chilling lyrics. If you want to hear a band with true talent that few can come close to then go ahead and slam this into your shopping cart. You will not be sorry!

This debut from finnish newcomers "Battlelore" stands apart for a number of reasons. They have a hard to pin down sound, including synth, flute and all the usual metal instruments. There is 3 vocalists, traditional "raging" extreme metal, clearsung male, and beautiful clearsung female. In this way they cover all the ranges and emotions in thier songs and produce a more fuller song. Thier lyric writing, is entirely inspired by JRR Tolkiens "The Lord of the Rings", and while not up to the caliber of Blind Guardians "Nightfall in MIddle Earth" is generally very competent.

Very nice, unique sounding release, reccomended for all black/folk/pagan/fantasy/viking Metal fans!

This is alot better of a cd then i expected it to be. This group is awesome! Great skill and what a great topic to play music about too (Middle-Earth)! All i have to say is purchase this cd and you will be happy. Great death/folk metal haha. Trust me its good.

If you're looking for realistic metal, look elsewhere. Battlelore is a very creative band who has better things to talk about than misery and depression. They take the works of the literary master J.R.R. Tolkien, transform them into majestic and well-thought lyrics, and put them to some of the best metal you're likely to find. Battlelore's first album is far superior to their second release (which is a fantastic release itself, but I think they were spending too much time making the upcoming DVD and that had most of their attention). Just take "Shadowgate" and "Fangorn" for example. Lots of influences from gothic, industrial, and symphonic black metal, combined with fantastic female vocals courtesy of the lovely and spirited Kaisa Jouhki, excellent clean male vocals by Patrik Mennander, and raging vocals done without any voice distortion! Jyri Vahvanen's compositions are very precise, and while Henri's drumming sometimes goes against the music a little, the overall result is fantastic. There isn't a weak song on the album. If you're a Tolkien fan and weren't particularly thrilled with Blind Guardian's Tolkien-inspired works (even though BG is a great band as well), then give Battlelore a try. The guitars aren't as fast and whiny, but to me, that's a good thing, as BL is far more atmospheric and enchanting. In addition, they are a very fan-friendly band, and their stage-outfits are great!

I think Battlore is the best band to combine female and male voices. That should make it a 5 star alone. There are few faluts. For one every song excecpt the last and third track sound alike. This is a must buy for power metal fans and Lord of The Rings fans.

This is the only CD I have of theirs and it will probably be the only CD I get too. There are a lot of good things and bad things about this band. I'll start with the good things.

The Pros:
They have a lot of catchy riffs in almost all their songs. They reeeeally experiment with their sounds and have a HUGE variety of sounds between each song. This mostly involves the keyboards and vocals and its much appreciated when a band strives to make different sounds between songs and throughout the entire song.

Musically they are quite talented with offbeats, beat changes, shredding, keyboards, female vocals, yelling/screaming, male vocals, etc. etc. I really enjoyed the acopella(sp) singing in Ride with Dragons, the guitar and singing in Grey Wizards, and the lyrics again with Khazad-Dum.

They also have decent lyrics.

Favorite songs are: The Grey Wizard, Khazad-Dum, and Ride with Dragons.

The Cons:
The negatives is that there is a lot boring parts even with all that variety. I really hated Shadowgate, Fangorn, and The Green Maid. Those songs were incredibly boring, unchanging, uninteresting songs that had no catchy parts whatsoever. Sure its nice to here a bit of techno I guess, but not boring Techno. . . Anyway I've listened to those three songs at least forty times each and it did not grow on me in any way as all the other songs did.

I find that I would rather read lyrics not revolving around something as well known as Middle Earth. I'd rather they made up their own story, something epic and interesting like Bal-Sagoth.

Thats three of nine songs, so that leaves six good songs. Thats really good in my opinion, hence the four stars.

Great Band, I would suggest this band any day.

Yes, this would be the music that those DandD nerds would listen to at their p&prpg parties *if* they rocked. Combining metal, folk, goth, and classical elements with three vocalists (A male growl, a male clean singing, and a female clean singing). Battlelore gets its inspiration from middle earth. There albums are *not* concept albums. There are no order to the songs. Each song is about a different "story" or situation or aspect of middle earth. Definitly one of the most interesting and talented bands in metal today.