Here's another proof of the power of Greek metal music realm. This, the sophomore album from Battleroar is a sturdy monument of epic heavy metal. The band's influences derive from Manilla Road, Omen, Cirith Ungol, Brocas Helm, Manowar, Jag Panzer and Heavy Load, as stated on their website.

'Age of Chaos' is anything but chaotic; it is very conscious and well-crafted piece of ageless heavy metal. Beautifully atmospheric, calm 'The Wanderer' opens the album and leads a listener to the archaic worlds, where men were steel, ships were wood and armaments were swords and crossbows. The song is sung by Manilla Road's Mark Shelton. 'Vampire Killer' moves ahead to attack, being the fastest song of the album. The nature of Battleroar's music is clear from the beginning, as the songs are multi-parted and filled with elements enhancing the atmosphere, e.g. sound effects and good use of acoustic guitar, violin and keyboards. Epic riffs and melodies pave the road created with punchy rhythm section. I should also mention tasty solos, which are memorable. One disadvantage of Battleroar are a few too long songs, which could be easily cut in their duration, as there's some not too hot parts in them. 'Siegecraft's chorus reminds heavily of Jag Panzer, especially as the vocalist Marco Concoreggi have some similar manners as Jag Panzer's Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin. However, Marco Concoreggi has pretty unusual voice for a heavy metal vocalist, as his voice is soft yet powerful, and he does not hit the high notes. One thing about him is that his pronunciation is good enough, unlike many Mediterranean area vocalist. His voice is surely too distinctive for many of you. The lyrical content can be guessed by reading the song titles: Battles, Conan the Barbarian, The Lord of the Rings, Elric of Melnibone etc. Good stuff for fantasy fans.

The production is close to perfection for this kind of music. It is airy, yet there's power and every single nuance is well transpired. But there's downsides to it: The drums are somewhat inaccurate, and the bass drum sound is too triggered. Nice digipak includes a bonus DVD with interviews, live videos and extra information. Cool extra, nothing more.

If epic heavy metal is your stuff, try 'Sword of Crom', 'Dyvim Tvar' and 'Calm before the Storm' and I bet you're hooked. 'Age of Chaos' is quite a powerful representation of Greek force of heavy metal. There's absolutely a huge amount of promise in the name Battleroar!

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
08/13/2006 19:50