Shadowlord - Batavorum
Alltough I have lived in Nijmegen (NL), the hometown of Shadowlord, I’ve never heard their music or seen them playing live. When I got the chance to review Shadowlord’s latest album ‘Batavorum’ I was eager to find out if I should be ashamed or not.
The 1st song, ‘Legion X’, is about a legion of Caesar that had to oppose the revolt in the the city now known as Nijmegen. The song is very dark. Especially the keyboards and the vocals give the music this sinister touch. It reminds me a little of the older Dimmu Borgir. I really like this song, the composition is great.
But this is not the only song about Nijmegen. The song ‘Moenen en Mariken’ is about the in the Netherlands wellknown story about ‘Mariken van Nieumeghen’, a girl that meets ‘Moenen’ who is actually the devil in disguise. But for those who cannot understand the Dutch language, Shadowlord also tells the story in English in the song ‘Moenen’
The songs on ‘Batavorum’ are very good compostions, I must say. Lots of great riffs, nice keyboard parts, great vocals, which have this nice doom metal touch. I really like that. The music is very melodic and is filled with emotion.
I’ve heard better productions but it's not bad at all. I assure you, if this record would have the same production like the later Dimmu borgir albums this would be the album of the year of many black metal fans.
Another thing I really like is the fact Shadowlord made a video clip of the song ‘Moenen’. And I must say that it is done very nice. I’ve seen many video clips of big budget bands that are really crap, but this clip is really a nice piece of art if you'd ask me.
Alltough I mentioned the name Dimmu Borgir twice, Shadowlord sure isn't a Dimmu clone. Sure, nowadays it is very hard to say a band is original, but Shadowlord sounds to me like no other band. Of course I hear some resemblance to other bands, like Eminenz, Limbonic Art or the first album of Gehenna. I really recommend this album to all the black metal fans. It sure will be in my list of top albums of this year.
90/1001Details Black Label Management
Released on Monday May 1st, 2006
Melodic black metal
Writer @Arcane on Monday May 1st, 2006
Tags: #Shadowlord
Tracklisting
1. Legion X
2. Batavorum
3. Moenen En Mariken
4. Our Goddess Will Rise
5. Amducias
6. Anatomy Of Melancholy
7. Archangels Fall
8. Moenen En Mariken (English)
Bonus: video of ‘Moenen’
2. Batavorum
3. Moenen En Mariken
4. Our Goddess Will Rise
5. Amducias
6. Anatomy Of Melancholy
7. Archangels Fall
8. Moenen En Mariken (English)
Bonus: video of ‘Moenen’
Line up
Daphne Alberda - Keyboards
Lesley de Santy - Guitars, 3rd party vocals
Dani�l de Vries - Drums
Rich�l Miseroy - Guitars
Ruud Nillesen - Bass
Marit Pietersen – Screams and clean vocals
Cor van Maris – Grunts and vocals
Lesley de Santy - Guitars, 3rd party vocals
Dani�l de Vries - Drums
Rich�l Miseroy - Guitars
Ruud Nillesen - Bass
Marit Pietersen – Screams and clean vocals
Cor van Maris – Grunts and vocals