The almighty DoomSword have just released another album. When you see a name like DoomSword, one may think the band is a doom metal band, but this isn’t really the case. The band’s sound is a mix of Bathory, Iron Maiden, Italian metal vocals, and various epic metal bands; this mix comes out as an epic traditional metal album.
The production of this album is clean and exactly what one would want in an epic album, thick guitars, yet keeping the vocals high in the mix. The vocalist, who has a lot of influence by Italian metal bands, really shines in this album. He’s lost his Hansi Kürsch sound, and replaced it with more of the strained epic Italian vocals. Every lyric is sung with oozing emotion, over top riffs to compliment the vocals and set an epic battlefield. The album does have a slow tempo at times, it doesn’t have doom riffing nor the usual Viking metal sound. The slow paced epic riffs that evolve into a speed up at the perfect times make this a great album.
From the start of the album DoomSword shows the theme of this specific album, which is Viking. Though the songs are mostly epic battles, never does the album become dull and focus on how epic they can make the music nor do they need huge hooks in each song for one to become intrigued. The album starts with a warrior conquering various lands in the name of his gods. The music follows along the lyrics and sets the mood perfectly. When reading along to the music through the ups and downs of our hero, the music becomes more epic in the battle scenes, and gradually builds up through other parts. The progress of all the battles throughout the album creates tension for the epic monster of a The Great Horn, where the tension is released, and the hero calls upon all of his warriors take back their land.
This should not be listened song by song, but should be listened as an entire album. It’s a great listen for fans of Viking metal and any epic metal. Nothing cheesy nor over the top, which continues the legacy of DoomSword, and keeping true to metal.
