Artist: Battlesword
Title: Towards The Unknown
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Release Date: 16th September 2022
Label: Doc Gator Records (Vinyl Version)
Review Flash
Twenty-four years ago, five guys with a gnarly devotion for harsh sounds decided to form a band and enrich the musical world with a bit more of German Melodic Death Metal. You might ask yourself why there’s only four full-length albums to date but the answer is as simple as it gets: the line-up changed quite a lot in two decades and most musicians play or have played in multiple bands (sometimes at the same time). Now that we have this settled we can talk about the music. As most of the readers here know the sub-genre of Death Metal is defined by brutal lyrics about death, war dismemberment and other kinds of mutilation and the harshness of the vocals to mention this seems a bit repetitive but yes BATTLESWORD features harsh vocals. The lyrics however are leaning more towards classic metal with tales about the netherworld, the decline of humankind and overall political and very bleak themes. It is nice to witness a change-up in the old and kinda rusty structures (I can only listen to so much decapitations, skinning etc.). There is even song that is quite empowering (‘Shores of I’). All in all this is an album that did grow on me, I needed a few listening sessions to get in “the mood” but now I can even go as far as recommend it to every lover of the bleak and brutal musical manifestations or as we tend to call it: Death Metal!
Conclusion: For fans of UNLEASHED and AMON AMARTH!
Rating: 8 / 10
