Battlesword is a German Melodic Death Metal act. On September 26th, 2024, Battlesword released their fifth full-length studio album, “(XX)V – Of Tales And Tragedies”. Released through MDDRecords and promoted through The Metallist PR.
Battlesword Social Links
The First Three Sins of Stages Of (XX)V – Of Tales And Tragedies
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Battlesword and their album, (XX)V – Of Tales And Tragedies
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Deliver blistering guitar work along with memorable harmonies, choruses, hooks, and haunting melodies, blended with elegant arrangements. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Vocalizations are characterized by powerful deep growls, featuring lyrics that can be easily deciphered within the growls. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Comprised of gloomy segments featuring continuous blasts and drumming that drive the music.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion:
The brutal section will squeeze every drop of your soul out of you, and the uplifting melodic and epic sections will elevate your dreams
Upon pressing the play button, The Apparition warmly greets the listener with a pleasant and melodic introduction, setting the tone for the remainder of the composition.
The listener continues their journey with the second composition, Memento. The other nine pieces take the listener on a journey about the band’s history and the things they have lived through over such a period. Battlesword has been making their way through the metal scene for twenty-five years, and to mark the occasion, Battlesword have released their fifth album, alluding to both the anniversary and the album number in its title (XX)V. The addition “Of Tales And Tragedies” can also be confidently interpreted as a reference to the band’s history.
Of Tales and Tragedies is a forty-minute beast that’s spread across eleven compositions. Their music brings this fruit of art old school, modern, melodic death metal influences with a touch of Amon Amarth‘s sound to captivate listeners’ ears and soul. There are plenty of things for fans to enjoy, especially those who appreciate classic, melodic, and Amon Amarth music. Battlesword offers a unique musical experience that is not repetitive or tiresome, without mimicking other artists. Music that is bursting with vitality, newness, wildness, and impactful right from the start of hitting play.
We would like to draw our attention to the exceptional quality of the music production, which captures every detail with pinpoint clarity. Every aspect, from the chords to the beats, is carried out perfectly, ensuring that every detail of the music is heard clearly and distinctly.
The composition within Of Tales and Tragedies is well-executed with perfection, each song doesn’t sound the same, equally having its ‘own’ identity, tone, mood, tempo and instrumental composition. A composition that is floored to perfection, a composition of songwriting and instruments which is delivered and provided by this solid fruit of art devilmanship. As mentioned before, Battlesword provides the listener with modern, old-school and melodic death metal, but also there is a composition of almost doomy parts to merciless blasts and drum work, combined with epic arrangements within the framework.
In addition to the devilmanship within the Of Tales and Tragedies, also delivers blistering guitar work with catchy harmonies, choruses, hooks and haunting melodies. At the same time, the vocal sections comprise deep growls and are more than solid, while the lyrics burst out the growls, which are perfectly understood, giving you the Amon Amarth singing sensation and fixation.
Overall, Battlesword provides and delivers this fruit of art creation to the listener’s senses and spirit. The music will engulf you with its heft, as the harsh part will wring every bit of your spirit from you, and the inspiring melodic and grand sections will lift your aspirations. For fans of harsh, grand, and melody-driven music, Of Tales and Tragedies is a must-listen.
The album concludes with the final track, A New Hope. Greets the audience with a lovely, yet eerie combination of string and keyboard instruments, bringing the album to a flawless conclusion. We want to thank The Metallist PR for letting us review Battlesword and their (XX) V – Of Tales And Tragedies album. We will wrap it up by discussing the final three sins and concluding the review.
The Last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins of Battlesword and their album, (XX)V – Of Tales And Tragedies
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia:
To us, Battlesword is a death metal band with an epic and melodic vibe, reminiscent of Amon Amarth, but without mimicking them. Simultaneously, Of Tales and Tragedies offered a pleasurable art listening experience. The album has a pristine and refined sound, including grand and captivating melodic parts that will make you want to air-guitar, and also includes headbanging moments like windmills.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
The artwork is epic and dark. As if the artwork is something you would find on the front cover of a graphic novel. But like the title of the album, the front cover could also be confidently interpreted as a reference to the band’s history.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
Nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Battlesword and their album, Of Tale and Tragedies. Therefore, this concludes Battlesword and their album, Of Tales and Tragedies review.
Members
Axel Müller: vocals
Andreas Klingen: drums
Ben Bays: bass
Lars Heimann: guitars
Erik Twardawski: guitars
Track-Listing
01. The Apparition
02. Memento (te hominem esse)
03. Break The Seven Seals
04. Brethren Of The Sword
05. Into The Maelstrom Of Old
06. Follow The Deathbird’s Call
07. Obsidian Faces
08. Storm Of The Coffin-born
09. The Days That Never Were
10. You Are The Fire
11. A New Hope
