Philadelphia’s Blazon Rite released ‘Dulce Beillum Inexpertis” last year and received much underground acclaim. Afflicted with the current pandemic and the restrictions it brought, studio time and rehearsals were hard to find. However, the band went with the DIY approach and recorded themselves
Starting with ‘Legends of Time and Eidolon’ you get a traditional metal track filled with folk influences, by way of musical expression. Then the traditional metal assault flicks between Slough Feg ism’s and galloping US power metal passages a-la Omen and other similar artists, even dear old England’s Dark Forest and some “proto-metal”. The vocals are “epic” for want of a better description, in the lower register similar to Eternal Champion/Visigoth/Slough Feg and have a lot of power, not so much in terms of complexity. ‘Put Down Your Steel (Only for the Night)’ is simpler, with a free flowing melody at the start. ‘The Executioners Woe’ is vibrant, riff laden and faster with some nice guitar gallops which I am always a sucker for! Mead swigging is mandatory to the album’s title track. Whilst the eerie start begins the tale of the ‘Alchemist’s Brute’ prior to brandishing some battle charging tempo. This one is more expansive in terms of the arrangement, the band play with time signatures and hold it all together rather well. ‘The Night Watchmen of Starfall Tower’ seems to brandish a riff and chord progression similar to late 70’s Judas Priest, nice to hear something different. Of course they band but their own stamp to the track.
The sound of the album is quite dense, with the snare drum not holding much sustain. It is fitting with the style in some respects, but misses an opportunity on the more “epic” parts in my opinion. However, for a traditional metal in whatever sub-sub-genre you want to call this nowadays, it’s a strong and enjoyable release. I have name checked bands of a similar style earlier, so you kind of know what you will get. Let’s hope normality leads to some European tour dates that will hopefully include us in our own outpost of the continent!
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
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