Doomsword
Doomsword

THE REVIEW

Incredible!

I would have never guessed that the first album by our heroic Italian warriors DoomSword would be even better than the recent and equally thrilling "Resound The Horn." I truly believe I am not wrong in this judgment, I have listened to the band from their second work, and I must say that from the debut to the current present, there are real differences. It could be the voice of the previous vocalist, Nightcomer, it could be a style that is more immediate and melodic yet still gloomy; the fact is that in this work, at times, it feels like listening to a different band.

The intro sung by DeathMaster, who appears as an additional vocalist in some tracks, has something of Manilla Road that gets stuck in your head and doesn’t leave, in a song like "Sacred Metal", which has all the characteristics to be an anthem. The voice of Nightcomer is magnificent, very close to Messiah Marcolin of Candlemass, most suitable and perfectly at home in a dark, medieval, and at times melancholic album, indebted to the early Warlord in its ultra-epic atmospheres.

The lyrics are also decidedly different from what DoomSword currently proposes, perhaps too oriented on Northern themes and myths a bit distant from our Italy; in this case, however, there are various references to fantasy literature, from which even the name DoomSword originates, thanks to the novels by Michael Moorcock, focused on Stormbringer, the sword of judgment. In this spectacular album, J.R.R. Tolkien even has room, with one of the most beautiful and epic tracks of recent years in the Epic field, "Helm's Deep", the battle also present in the recent film "The Two Towers," and here astonishingly well rendered in music. "One Eyed God", on the other hand, spans once more on Norse mythology, with an acoustic initial duet between DeathMaster and Nightcomer... another scream-worthy masterpiece track. The subsequent "Return To Imrryr" starts off really great, '80s in every respect, with a dark and mighty pace only to make way for "Nadsokor", a famous track by Cirith Ungol excellently interpreted. The final two tracks, "Swords Of Doom" and "On The March", excellently retrace the fusion of epic, dark, and refined elements as never before could DoomSword recreate.

This is the true masterpiece of DoomSword, solemn and filled with dark decadence, I don't want to take anything away from the equally excellent "Resound The Horn," but the stylistic coordinates here are different and vastly superior, an opinion shared by all fans of this very valid group which, like it or not, has brought back to prominence the name of Epic Metal internationally. Repeating such levels, I think, is difficult, but in any case, this album can perfectly stand alongside other great names of the '80s.