BATTLELORE · Third Age of the Sun | GOLD BLACK MARBLED 2LP

Golden black marbled double vinyl in gatefold sleeve. Limited to 300 copies.

Background information about 'Third Age of the Sun'

Battlelore never sounded this alive. With "Third Age of the Sun" the Finns tore open a new chapter back in 2005, and hearing it again on wax makes you realise just how much ground they covered. Gone is some of the polished sheen of the early days — in its place comes something rawer, earthier, with folk melodies and melodic death metal riffs trading blows like old friends who know exactly where the other is weakest. Terje Refsnes sat in the producer's chair for Napalm Records, and you can feel his hand in the way the keyboards breathe instead of simply decorating, and in the way the two vocalists push against each other — one growling from the depths, the other soaring somewhere above the treeline.

The Tolkien obsession is fully on display here, and honestly it works. Tracks like the storming opener and the sprawling wizard diptychs build a world you can almost smell: damp forest, cold iron, torchlight on stone. The riffs hit hard, the epic keyboard textures swell at exactly the right moments, and the whole thing feels more ambitious and more versatile than anything the band had done before. This is fantasy metal with actual teeth, symphonic in scope but never bloated, and it rewards repeated spins — you keep finding new details buried in the mix.

For fans of: Ensiferum, Finntroll, Turisas, Eluveitie, Wintersun

Track listing

LP 1:
A1. Usvainen Rhûn
A2. Storm of the Blades
A3. Ghân of the Woods
A4. Gwaith-i-Mírdain
A5. Trollshaws
A6. Elves of Lüva
B1. Valier - Queens of the Valar
B2. Thousand Caves
B3. Cloaked In Her Unlight
B4. Of Orcs and Elves
B5. Touch of Green and Gold
B6. Pallando - Forgotten Wizards I

LP 2:
C1. Alatar - Forgotten Wizards II
C2. Elessar's Call
C3. Dwimmerlaik
C4. Gollum's Cry
D1. Logo Etching

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