Where The Shadows Lie - Battlelore

J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy works have long been a source of inspiration for heavy metal bands, and despite some significant crossover with the darker side of black metal (most obviously Count Grischnackh a.k.a. Varg Vikernes), it's most closely associated with the swords and sorcery sagas of European power metal. To their credit, Finland's Battlelore have approached the task in a different way than the hordes of Blind Guardian imitators, but this also sees their style become significantly removed from a power metal sound and more towards the gothic metal side of things, a fragile genre that can all too easily lapse into symphonic pomposity, tedium or mainstream mush. ...  Read the complete review