Warthur I find that on Bal-Sagoth's third album their schtick begins to wear thin. As fun an idea it is to fuse black metal and power metal, crib from Robert E. Howard to cook up the the lyrics, and crank the cheese factor up to 11, you do have to ask yourself exactly how many albums in this vein anyone really needs - and Battle Magic seems to be something of a step down from Starfire Burning. To my ears, the production - particularly on the systhesisers - sounds cheap and thin, and the compositions fail to hold my attention the same as the songs on the previous albums did.

I guess it's an OK album if you're really into the whole Bal-Sagoth thing, but I suspect most of us can get by with just their top-tier albums.

Mjöllnir Once their inimitable style was solidified on the previous album, our new great kings of pomp filled extreme metal had only to temper this blade to realise its true potential. This they did with their third epic, “Battle Magic”. Though lacking the power of “Starfire Burning...” with a thinner sound on almost every front, in exchange everything is more cohesive and centred. Keyboards mesh with the basic metal instruments sometimes so entirely that you forget where this band’s sound is rooted, though the tremolo riffs and maddening drums erupt to the forefront enough to pull you back to black metal ground.

Conan the Barbarian-esque flourishes are still here, with more cheesy cosmic “moments” and breakdowns held together by the marching band style of the rhythm section. Byron Roberts continues to mix the haughty narration and black metal rasps, with the same success as before not to mention adding weight to the still highly entertaining fantasy lyrics. The format of the previous album is copied almost exactly, though the songs mostly have a different feel. There’s a keyboard track to start, straight in the middle and one to finish as before for instance. The second part of “The Splendour of a Thousand Swords....” (I’ll let you finish that one!) is present with their longest song title ever (another endearing eccentricity)

Love “Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus” with its expansive and sweeping classical and film score character meshing superbly with fist pumping epic metal to create 8 unforgettable minutes with no need for any concise, manic speedy metal. I also adore “Return to the Praesidium of Ys” where Byron exceeds himself with manic narration and symphonic structure spiralling ever onward to the heavens.

You’ll have to abandon any set concept of how black, or even extreme styles of metal in general, should sound and just let yourself get absorbed to enjoy it. The effort is more than worth it, I can’t recommend this band enough!