(Symphonic/Epic Black Metal) Stormlord - Under The Sign Of The Sword (EP) - 1997, FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

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Stormlord are one of the most important realities of my country, Italy. It took a lot of time for them to reach a bigger slice of public and, with it, a quite success in our country and also abroad. I like this band because, during the first years, it blended with a good taste the more epic music with the black metal. They always resulted quite original thanks also to the musical and lyrical influences from the Roman empire and the mythological themes.
This EP marks a big step for them, being the first really important production after few demos. The debut album was behind the corner and in this EP we can find more or less the same band’s style we could find in Supreme Art Of War. I believe that a band like Agarthi was very important for the influences but, anyway, their style is always quite personal. For example, the first track is utterly epic with great, battling chorus alternated to black metal shrieks that characterize the most extreme side. We can find arpeggios and sudden blast beats with heavier guitars.
The production is still a bit raw but sincere and anyway, good for the audible instruments. The only thing I can complaint for is the guitars sound that is a bit too low in volumes compared to the vocals and the rhythmic session. “Riding Sunset” is fast at the beginning to turn into a majestic, glorious melodic part by the keyboards that always support even the most black metal parts. There are some more melodic breaks too where the production exalts in a perfect way, with high volumes, the clean instruments and the guitars solos that, always being quite raw, have melodic/epic notes inside.
The last “Scarlet Kingdom” is remarkable for the excellent, epic melodies by the electric guitars over a carpet of fast bass drums beats. The rest of this song is a bit blacker but it has always those melodies by the guitars that “save” the song from being a bit standard. All in all, this is the picture of a band that was still a bit raw and this EP contains some more weak parts but overall, it’s normal for a young band. The best had to come, but the abilities are already evident and audible.
(c) CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8 /www.metal-archives.com/

Cristiano Borchi - Vocals & Bass
Fabrizio Cariani - Keyboards
Marcello Baragona - Drums
Riccardo Montanari - Guitar (session)