Band:	Blazon Rite
Album:	Wild Rites And Ancient Songs
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	April 2023

01. Autumn Fear Brings Winter Doom
02. Salvage What You Can Of The Night
03. The Fall Of A Once Great House
04. Mark Of The Stormborn Riders
05. Wild Rites And Ancient Songs
06. Troubadours Of The Final Quarrel
07. The Coming Tide Of Yule

I know that I have pushing epic metal down your collective throats, Metal Stormers, during these first few months of 2023, but can you blame me with all these top-class releases that have been out recently? Blazon Rite’s second LP is so good that I felt obliged to present it to you.

Wild Rites And Ancient Songs comes after some truly great epic metal records that have been out already this year, such as the latest from Megaton Sword, Triumpher, and Smoulder. Some would also add to the list the new albums by Gatekeeper and Mace‘n’Chain, as well as the debut EPs that will soon shape into full-lengths from Savage Oath and Dolmen Gate. Although the normal thing would be for anyone to suffer from excess exposure to the genre, one single listen convinced me that the successor to (the very good) Endless Halls Of Golden Totem is not to be passed up.

The immediately noticeable thing are the twin guitars that first appear at about 30 seconds into the opening track, and they are often present during the rest of the album, being one of its many standout features. Then the riff of the second track, “Salvage What You Can Of The Night”, is just made of the same stuff that classics used to be made; it is surely going to be one of the live staples and the band knew that when they were writing it, which is probably why they added the “hey” shouts after the song’s solo. Songs like “The Fall Of A Once Great House” and the title track have clean guitars and a bit of a folky touch, bringing to mind my beloved The Lord Weird Slough Feg, whose influence is actually heard more or less throughout Wild Rites And Ancient Songs.

It’s not easy for a new band to play traditional heavy metal that ticks all the boxes, without sounding like another uninspired rehash. Blazon Rite have superb guitar players that possess bags full of catchy riffs, tasty licks, twin melodies, and intricate solos, they have songs that are memorable and very replayable, a tight rhythm section with a bass that oozes personality, and the very rare luck of being fronted by a singer with a unique-sounding, baritone voice that belongs in an epic doom band. Johnny Halladay really nails it and owns these songs; his voice really shouldn’t work on an almost speed metal track like “Troubadours Of The Final Quarrel”, but it really does.

Production, atmosphere, and a stunning-looking cover art complete the picture. Seriously, feast your eyes upon that cover; isn’t it satisfying when, with just a glance at the artwork of an album, you immediately know what you’re in for, music-wise? And isn’t it even more fulfilling when that music delivers in spades? The album is over after 37 minutes and leaves you wanting more.

I have no criticism for Wild Rites And Ancient Songs, save for the relative lack of originality. If a band decide to go down a route that has been treaded a million times before, they are bound to be compared with the great ones of the past. With their second album, Blazon Rite pass with flying colours.

"Salvage, what you can, of the night
Damage, at the point of a knife
Savage, moonlight guides my way
I must run forever free, a new quest every day"