Battlelore - The Last Alliance
1. Third Immortal
2. Guardians
3. The Great Gathering
4. Voice of the Fallen
5. Exile the Daystar
6. Daughter of the Sun
7. Green Dragon
8. Awakening
9. Epic Dreams
10. Moontower
11. The Star of High Hope
Finnish symphonic power metallers Battlelore have returned with another epic offering, their fifth full-length album. ‘The Last Alliance’ is a release that is very accessible and easy to get into, with an air of sophistication. The band has melded together various genres to formulate this effort. At its core, it is symphonic metal with other-worldly ethereal keyboards dominating the guitars and the traditional presence of female vocals. However, there are riffs of a heavy, power and even melodic death metal nature, the latter evident on ‘Daughter of the Sun’. Even more adventurous is the feature of a black metal riff on ‘Voice of the Fallen’, which suits the elven voice of female vocalist Kaisa Jouhki.
A touch of Finnish traditional music accentuates the music particularly on the opening number ‘The Immortal’. There are pop sentiments throughout,, not only in Jouhki’s voice but on the production of the album (handled by Dan Swano), akin to that of Leaves’ Eyes.
In spite of punchy riffing, optimistic melodies and some wise drum fills linking musical passages, ‘The Last Alliance’ may have the listener’s interest waning as it progresses. The same song structures are used so many times that the music becomes predictable and some tracks, including ‘Voice of Reason’, have guitar riffs that do nothing constructive and seem present for the sake of qualifying this album as metal, rather than pop. No ample amount of uncharted musical territory is discovered but this still an interesting listen for melodic metal fans.
Reviewed by Elena Francis
‘The Last Alliance’ is out now through Napalm Records.
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