So it’s time again for German melodic death metal legends Battlesword to assault our every waking sense with their brutal yet addictive form of aggression. 23 years into their journey they know in their very sinews just how to stir our moribund and humdrum lives, into a frenzy of hair, sweat, and denim. Tight and thunderous is how you could describe this album. And that would be a very apt description. I would like to add also that it’s also cavernous in parts. The mix gives all the members of the band time to breathe and fill the void that lies around and above each of them. Accomplished and almost progressive it is not your simple down tuned screamed sonic nightmare. Far from it, filled with layer after layer of delicious heavy textures it has something for everybody.
For those of us amongst us who want just straightforward brutality, it has it in spades.
If you like me you desire after many years in the game a record that fulfills at once your bestial natures and satisfies your intellectual side it also has it. Thematically Battlesword has chosen a more nautical theme for most of the album. This is a very tried and tested device, not only do they have room to create an almost endless sonic landscape, but also have as much if not more space in which to splash around in a vast and sometimes overly tortured pool of lyrical metaphors.
But fear not dear fellow traveler across the vast and heathen ocean of extreme metal Battlesword have navigated well and have come forth from the maelstrom to deliver the purist melodic death metal record as is humanly possible. Sighting land and planting their flag in the soft and fertile soil of a new musical territory the band has departed from the straightforward in-your-face brashness of their youth. To end up with this a very cultured, smart, and brilliantly executed album. I have been a fan for quite some time and it’s really nice to hear bands you love to stretch out and create above and beyond the confines of a rigid, sometimes cloying, and almost smothering genre.
Towards The Unknown is a steady 10 tracks all of which don’t feel the need to hang around and at a good pace move from one to the other very seamlessly. Not at any time did I feel the need to look at my watch and mentally work out when it would be a good time at which to exit stage left. It most certainly has replayability. This is important with this album as it is so layered and textured that one listen will not help you take it all in. I have a feeling this is the sort of record that after its release you will end up returning to time and time again just to make sense of the whole thing and stop that little voice in your head that is saying “ hey did I really just hear that or was it our imagination”
Don your battle vests, say goodbye to your sweethearts and loved ones and prepare for the nightmare foe, we ride with Battlesword into glory!!!!
Battlesword: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: MDD Records
Category: Album
Country: Sweden
Reviewed by Tony Evans
