Battlelore

House of Heroes

Ocean’s Elysium

Summon the Wolves

We Are the Legions

Into the New World

Longing Horizon

Mask of Flies

The Cloak and the Dagger

Beneath the Waves

digipack bonus tracks

Doom and Oblivio

The Tale of the Downfall

Kaisa Jouhki - vocals
Tomi Mykkänen - vocals
Jussi Rautio - guitars
Jyri Vahvanen - guitars
Timo Honkanen - bass
Henri Vahvanen - drums
Maria - keyboards

BATTLELORE: "Evernight" battlelore

Recorded and mixed by Miitri Aaltonen at Music Bros Studios.
Produced by Miitri Aaltonen and Battlelore.
Mastered at Finnvox Studios by Mika Jussila.

Third Age of the Sun

review by Marco "Norman Knight" Signore____

Quite different from the sounds we were accostumated at.

Battlelore acquired a good name for performing a particular power metal, extremely Tolkien-inspired and characterized by a clean female voice mixed with a growl male voice.

And yet this new album, “Evernight”, is quite different from the sounds we were accustomed at in the previous albums of this band. The tones are darker, more ominous, and there is no Tolkien at all... a change of route?

We immediately start the listening and are welcomed by “House of Heroes”. The usual mix of voices (clean female counterposed by the growl male) walks on a carpet of synthstrings, and ominous, atmospheric bass'n'drums, with transfixing guitar riffs. The same tone of distorted guitar and synth pads follow though in “Ocean Elysium”, in a sort of research of sounds, as both voices still pursue each other. The song grows in intensity in a sort of prelude to “Summon the Wolves”, with more raging guitar, and cadenced and aggressive rhythm.

The following song is titled “We are the Legions”, and appears to be even more aggressive, almost to the levels of songs from the previous two albums. In this one, the growl voice is true master of the scene, while the harmony is built up with intelligent ideas – although the female voice is very undertoned.

We come now to the longest song of the whole album, called “Into the New World”. It almost begins a metal ballad a-la Iron Maiden of the latest albums, but it soon opens up with speed double bass drum and hammering guitar, at last reminiscent to the typical style of the band, in the best track of this work. “Longing Horizon” instead is quite a sudden change of pace. Acoustic guitar with unusual percussive track make this song worthy to be in an Angra album, with very well conceived drum patterns, unfortunately not matched by the vocal lines.

The seventh track is called “Mask of Flies”, with unceasing marching pattern for the drum and the bass, very representative of the new style of the band.

The album closes with two nice songs, “Cloak and Dagger” and “Beneath the Waves”. The former has a strong link to Iron Maiden style, especially in the central section with the synth flute almost in a military march, while “Beneath the Waves” returns again to the old style of Battlelore, maybe more pleasant to the listener's ears, and with sudden stops of tempo marked by the always excellent keyboards, and acoustic guitars that sometimes remind me of the splendid soundtrack of Diablo.

In my opinion this album is a bit under the possibilities of the band. It may be that the change of style still does not sound “good” to my ears, used to songs such as “Sons of Riddermark” or “Trollshaws”; I think that Battlelore have made a good album, but not at level respect to the former ones; especially the vocal work is a bit dull, sometimes feeling “out of place” respect to the musical conceptions expressed in the album.

All in all, if you are a fan of this band, you may be disappointed. Yes, they still are Battlelore, with all their lights and shadows, but honestly I was expecting a bit more from them. The ideas are good, the sound is nice (although some variations in the sonorities of synths or guitars would have been more in place), and the tracks are not hard to the listeners; but after many times that I have ran the disc in my player I am still not convinced. Listen to it, however, because is still a good album.

rating: 7/10

Tour

Evernight will fall over Europe in April/May.

confirmed at the moment:

27.04.2007 DE – Berlin / Darkside
28.04.2007 DE - Annaberg-Buchholz / Alte Brauerei
29.04.2007 CZ - Brno / Faval Club
30.04.2007 HU - Budapest / Petofi Hall Gothica Festival
01.05.2007 DE - Munich / Metropolis
02.05.2007 IT - tba
03.05.2007 IT - Milan / Magazzini Generali
04.05.2007 CH - Thun / Late Night
05.05.2007 CH - Uster / Rock City
06.05.2007 DE - Illingen / Illlipse, Earthquaker Festival
07.05.2007 DE - Dortmund / Tarantula
08.05.2007 DE - Stuttgart / Universum
09.05.2007 DE - Marburg / KfZ
10.05.2007 NL - Eindhoven / Effenaar
11.05.2007 DE - Marksteft / Rockmania Festival
12.05.2007 DE - Lübeck / Treibsand

Marco Signore 31.03.2007

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