BATTLELORE · Sword's Song | WHITE BLACK MARBLED LP

White/black marbled vinyl in gatefold sleeve. Limited to 300 copies.

Background information about 'Sword's Song'

There is a particular kind of magic that happens when a band decides to build its whole world out of somebody else's mythology, and on "Sword's Song" Battlelore did exactly that — they walked straight into Middle-earth and came back with a record that still smells of campfire smoke and cold steel. Originally released in 2003 through Napalm Records and produced by Miitri Aaltonen, this sophomore effort found the Finns sharpening everything that made their debut so promising: the riffs hit harder, the arrangements breathe wider, and the twin vocal attack — that gorgeous push-and-pull between ethereal female melodies and gruff, battle-worn growls — finally locks into something genuinely thrilling. It is power metal, gothic metal and symphonic pomp all tangled together, and somehow it never collapses under its own ambition.

What makes this one stick around is the songwriting. "Sons of Riddermark" gallops out of the gate like a cavalry charge, the title track swells into one of the most atmospheric things the band ever committed to tape, and "Buccaneer's Inn" is just pure, unapologetic fun. Tolkien's legendarium is everywhere, sure, but the record never feels like a lecture — it feels like a bunch of friends who grew up on fantasy novels and Iron Maiden riffs finally getting to build the castle they always dreamed of. Two decades on, it holds up beautifully, and hearing it pressed to wax for the very first time is a genuine event for anyone who wore out the CD back in the day.

For fans of: Nightwish, Epica, Tristania, Delain, Leaves' Eyes

Track listing

A1. Sons of Riddermark
A2. Sword's Song
A3. The Mark of the Bear
A4. Buccaneer's Inn
A5. Attack of the Orcs
A6. Dragonslayer
B1. Khazad-dûm pt.2
B2. Horns of Gondor
B3. The War of Wrath
B4. Forked Height
B5. Starlight Kingdom
B6. The Curse of The Kings

Manufacturer: Napalm Records Handels GmbH, Hammerplatz 2, 8790 Eisenerz, Austria , Contact: napalmrecords.com