Its been 3 year since the debut, Devour the Power, and I knew just judging from the cover and the album title, that Tennessee’s purveyors of uber cheesy fantasy based metal was going to up the ante from the debut-and they do.
Cut from the same heavily bearded and classically inspired cloth as 3 Inches of Blood and Skeletonwitch, and with tongue planted firmly in cheek, DDD’s mix of thrash, power metal, heavy metal and melodic death metal is hardly groundbreaking, but for some reason, as with their two previously mentioned bands, throw in some heavy handed synths (far more so than the debut), and even some Viking chants/choirs then lyrics about vast battles, winged beasts, the undead and of course sluts of battle, and you can’t help but grin and throw the horns.
The orchestral epic “The Second Coming” signals the arrival of the sophomore record with a grandiose sense of pomp before “Battle Upon the Artic Plains” trots into view with a majestic power metal gait and war horns and closes with some rousing choirs. “The Scorpion Gate” gallops with a killer melodic urgency before and austere closing few moments complete with Lord Byron -ish spoken words. By this point, I’m hooked and the rest of the album is a grin inducing ride into cheese land, but I have to admit, musically the band appears to have grown into their themes, with a far more advanced grasp of melody and structure as “Realm of Ancient Shadows” and “Born of Thunder” shows-just damn good, mid paced, epic power/heavy metal songs by any standard, just with Bryan Kemp delivering harsh blackened rasps. Granted, the sense of almost Bal-Sagoth like pomp and Rhapsody (of Fire) level of cheese can be overbearing, especially for a US band on Black Market Activities, but DDD really seem to have grown into their chosen style and themes without it sounding too forced, or simply like a metalcore band playing power metal with fantasy lyrics. Heck, there’s even some well done female vocals that grace “The Winged Panther” and penultimate track “Return of the Geishmal Undead” , with more rousing chants is just downright epic. Oh, and be sure to stick around for the drunken beer song “Battle Slut Drinking Song” for a good laugh.
The gauntlet has been thrown to metal heads who will no doubt hate this lot simply based on their metalcore backbone, gimmicky image, thong clad front man and almost piss taking lyrics, but personally serious or not, Battle Sluts is a damn fun metal record that all metal heads should give a try.
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Sounda like a fun listen. Not the kind of thing I’d normally like, but cheesey on purpose can be cool. Seems to be a mini trend in this.
on Jan 23rd, 2009 at 10:07Given that I am a fan of the pomp and the cheese-I love Bal-Sagoth, and my love of DragonForce, Rhapsody, and 3 Inches of Blood is wholly unironic-I was a bit surprised at how little I liked DDD’s last CD. It felt as if the band hadn’t really figured out how to put together all the various styles they wanted to put into their music. They’re working that out-the vibe this one gives me is pretty much “what if Alexi Laiho decided to play fantasy based power metal?” but it’s a lot better executed than the last one. Plus, if you’re going to be pompous and over the top, you really do need to kick up the symphonic keys. These guys improved a lot.
on Jan 24th, 2009 at 14:53If you are a fan of Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir, Amon Amarth, then you will love this CD. Forget the cheese comments. The viking / fantasy lyrics bode well for this band and these guys really do a great job of mixing the aforementioned bands into one sound. The vocals are perfect, the guitar playing has plenty of hooks, the synths are mixed in just right, and the drumming doesn’t overtake the rest of the band. Check this CD out!
on May 28th, 2010 at 10:51