The Bastard

This album is a debut, which usually goes with the tag that they could have done better but they are green to the art. This is most certainly not the case with Hammers of Misfortune's The Bastard. The Bastard blurs the edges between genres like NWOBHM, Traditional Doom, Black metal, and progressive.


The album is a concept story about a bastard son who has been left for dead at birth by his pillaging father. After growing and learning the nature of man a spirit comes to him and calls him to wrath towards his tyrannical king. After confronting his father he finds he can't destroy his father alone. So the legendary Blood Ax is given to the protagonist in an Oath sworn in hell. The story proceeds from there, with the protagonist killing his father, taking up the throne and his reign.


The music itself is very florid and though it interplays between different styles and genres flows very well. The album's first song, "The Dragon is summoned" is probably the only track I can do without. It has a good riff and is nicely structured but the vocal lines sound a little chaotic. This is made up for easily with the next five songs being brilliantly done. Songs transition seamlessly so I advise going through songs in order.

The vocal patterns in this album are very well done. Each vocalist has a voice in the story so for all my fellow Mike Scalzi fanboys rest assured he is a very big presence on this album. The protagonist is Mike Scalzi, the female vocals portray the spirits and witches that appear during his quest, and the harsh vocals delivered by John Cobbett are the tyrant and demons in the story. It is well scripted and the story will keep the lyrics easily remembered in your head.

The highlights of the album would be "On Wings of Vengeance","An Oath Sworn in Hell","The new king's lament", and "You should have slain me"

Though I do recommend listening to the songs with the appropriate songs that accompany them i.e. The bastard sapling and on wings of vengeance go together.

I recommend this to any metal fan who likes NWOBHM, Doom, Progressive, or even Black metal, as long as they aren't elitists.

This album is certainly worth the name of Mike Scalci. He managed to mix black metal, folk, NWOBHM, and operatic vocals and not suck at it. This is definitely an achievement. The black metal element is rather surprising, but very fitting. The album starts off with a wonderful tremolo attack, and immediately lays the cards down on the table. Intertwining harmonized guitars, harsh and female vocals, and a generally minor key, but very dramatic atmosphere. It never feels forced or over-produced, something that most more dramatic or concept albums seem to suffer from.

The Slough Feg influence is definitely felt here. Not only does Mike sing on this album, the production is almost exactly the same. This adds an intensity to the harsher parts that is present in SF material as well. The story is rather engaging and it's definitely recommended to get the cd (as opposed to downloading this), to follow the story. The musicianship is top notch, but not focused upon. Solos are sparse but effective, and the general feel of folk-inspired classical riffs is definitely executed well. The unexpected use of blast beats in some of the more intense sections is very refreshing, as this seems to be used little in this genre of music.

one gripe I have about this album is that it can be somewhat non-continuous. The moods change quickly, according to the mood of the story. This leaves some stop-start moments that can be slightly awkward, but it's not highly distracting. It's definitely an album you have to actively listen to, as opposed to something you can just run in the background. This may not be too appealing for some people, but it's a concept album, so this is expected.

Overall, a really good album, and very engaging.