Following a successful jaunt around the globe playing Manowar material, RTB (the band) come back with the third studio album. Obviously you are going to look for similarities, they are present in abundance, but managing to possess such a talented vocalist in Marc Lopez makes this album perhaps more valuable.

The production is phenomenal, especially the bass and drums. Clearly Ross Friedman was very much instrumental in the sound of former bands arsenal, this album really sounds meaty cranked up loud. Tracks such as the title track ‘By Blood Sworn’ and ‘This Is Vengeance’ are so powerful. Then emotive as the music can get in a straight up metal kind of way, the ballad ‘Faith of the Fallen’ provides a sweeter sense to the release. Highlighting the power through the vocals and the general sustain of the music accompanying it. The bass intro to ‘Lilith’ is nice, although the track itself is a touch below the standard of other songs for me. But then ‘Play Among The Godz’ adds a dimension of classic guitar work like that of Thin Lizzy at some points during the arrangement.

For this third release, there sounds a deliberate attempt to capture the attention of the Manowarriors out there; different to the first two, but still, this is a very powerful album. This comes from the production which a lot of these groups forget about these days.

(8/10 Paul Maddison)

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