...Where the Shadows Lie

Sword's Song was the album that put Battlelore and their epic Middle-Earth metal into full light, that's what I've been writing in almost every single review from this retrospective by now. Yet this isn't a reason to completely disdain its humble predecessor, of which we shall take care now. First professional release from its makers, Where the Shadows Lie remains amateur in so many ways it requires a certain dose of indulgence from the listener to avoid a premature collapse into ridicule; still, exactly like with its successful successor(!), the dedication of these youths back in the day worked as such a powerful spell that – almost – everything will be pardoned.

Archetypal debut, it combines re-recordings of demo songs with new compositions, tentatively experimenting in several directions which will be abandoned as early as the following album: it features, for instance, a gothic / industrial metal piece (Shadowgate), an atmospheric folk rock one (The Green Maid), or a weird, repetitive hidden track mixing a bunch of unexpected plucked strings instruments (harps, lutes, and who-knows-what) with drinking party samples and traditional percussions... which ends up sounding more creepy than happy. These oddities set aside, the overall style foreshadows the one the (five) guys and (two) girls will further develop on Sword's Song, and tracks like Swordmaster, The Grey Wizard or Journey to Undying Lands wouldn't certainly clash on that latter album. Turn-of-the-century keyboard-laden epic metal still deeply anchored in power metal, at a time Nightwish and Rhapsody reigned supreme, it borrowed also from their fellow-countrymen of Children of Bodom for the whole aggressive-power-metal-with-harsh-vocals business, and the Gothenburg scene didn't look that distant, either – well, I might be the only one to consider Battlelore through the melodic death metal prism, but hey, to each his own fantasies I guess.

In the vocals department, it essentially revolves around Patrik Mennander and his wild growl; though he's well-seconded by no less than two clean vocalists, the typical Beauty-and-the-Beast interplay they will later specialize in wasn't much developed so far. He grunts alone all throughout the aptly named Raging Goblin, and for the majority of Swordmaster, while by contrast a song like The Green Maid is mostly Kaisa Jouhki's. The young lady was already showing great promises, even if I prefer her calm middle range to the slightly too pop-ish tone she was using more frequently back then. Less remarkable perhaps, yet adding a distinctive flavour which will be absent from the subsequent releases, are the male clean vocals from then rhythm guitarist Tommi Havo, of whom it was the final recording with the band.

The couple of main vocalists excepted, the musicians at that time weren't anything remarkable; on the other hand they weren't really helped by the production, either. The guitars lack of power to the point they're regularly overwhelmed by the bass, and of course by the loud, but cheap-sounding keyboards – still much preferable to any overproduced pseudorchestral fluff, that's understood, but there are limits to everything. Last but not least, the snare drum, very plastic on roughly half of the album, isn't without similarities with its infamous sibling from St. Anger, released the year just after, what is never a good sign.

Coming to the compositions themselves, they undoubtedly have their charm, however strong they smell of youth and inexperience... or perhaps these very youth and inexperience are an integral part of their charm, after all. Fragile assemblages of maladroitly galloping riffs and crystalline/atmospheric/electro/whatever keyboards they don't always exactly know what to do with, they trudge along the bumpy paths of Middle-Earth, regularly falling only to rise again the second after and keep progressing on their quest. Even the bizarre, experimental Shadowgate acquires some kind of hypnotic beauty in the long run, for those ready to enter the game, while Khazad-dûm Part 1 features another equally baroque moment for anyone at least partly familiar with the band, especially in its early days: twenty seconds of a genuine old-school guitar solo. Now as far as personal favorites go, let's vote for the long, ample Journey to Undying Lands, if only for the near-to-perfect equilibrium for once established between the three vocalists.

I'm fully aware I'm rating this album a tad high for what it objectively proposes, given that only Battlelore fanatics, a species yet not totally extinct, will find a genuine interest in it. Never mind. Yes, the feast is at times too meagre, at others almost indigestible, but it was undeniably prepared with love and care.

Highlights: Swordmaster; Journey to Undying Lands.

Well, it sounds good on paper. A 7-piece band concocting fantasy metal tunes with male and female vocals sharing lead responsibility. Not that it’s a failure, it certainly isn’t, but it’s no genre shaking, earth quaking musical monument either. It is simply an album to address when you feel like something to listen to that’s not demanding or as simplistic as spaghetti without sauce. It reaches the ‘fantasy’ barcode attached, but ceases before hitting the ‘epic’ tag, and for a band aimed primarily at delivering this style of music it should be epic in its atmosphere and magical in its grandeur.

Whilst I may hammer hard on its lack of epic song writing, I cannot deny the commanding tunes of “Journey to Undying Lands” and the memorable female vocal lines in “Fangorn”. It is these vocals that breathe the life into the band. The male vocals remain mediocre throughout the entire album, yet the contrasting female lines are what make Battlelore who they are. They are like that refreshing drink after a tough spell on the football field and become a welcomed addition to your ears. It is the specific placing of these vocals and their rhythms that make many songs a delight to listen to. “The Grey Wizard” showcases this perfectly and lures you into the album early on. However, it doesn’t last long. “Raging Goblin” is as dispensable as those plastic razors you buy at the supermarket and need not have been included. We find another change in tempo at track 7 with the ballad “The Green Maid”, and for those with a taste for the acoustic should enjoy this as it not daring in the least and becoming accustomed should cause no problems. A bonus track is found lurking after the nine displayed songs, but offers little more to the quality of the album.

“Where the Shadows Lie” is a difficult album to write on, as besides the theatrics behind the music it contains average songs but with highlights strewed throughout. For fantasy themed metal there are bands out there performing it better and more consistently, but Battlelore have managed to form their own recognisable sound and it is a credit to them. Whilst their work after this album I see as being stronger, “Where the Shadows Lie” is unlikely to disappoint, but in the same way, is unlikely to amaze.