The Symphony of War

The Symphony of War is the sort of thing I'd be a lot more lenient towards if Ancient Land weren't already two albums deep. It's the sort of thing where I'd declare its potential, and dismiss the rough edges as the bands working out the kinks of the recording process. If it were their first demo, I'd probably think a strong first album was quite plausibly in the cards. This isn't an early demo from Ancient Land, though. With full lengths already under their belt, Symphony comes off as a very amateurish onslaught. If this is their call to war, I'm placing my bets on the opposition.

Ancient Land's arsenal of choice is a blackened pagan-folk type deal. They're not really folk metal, though. They just employ the riffing style of harder folk metal (but not really black metal) bands like Waylander, who can be quite aggressive but haven't fully shaken all of folk metal's goofier instincts. Instead of European folk instrumentation (I'm happy they didn't try to pull out an accordion), Ancient Land opt for ever-present synth work. Herein lies their downfall - not only are the keyboards lackluster, but they are inexplicably loud in the mix. It's a bit of a shame, because while few of the riffs are particularly standout, none are bad and they've got a particularly biting guitar tone. The drumbeats are very boring and rudimentary, but the vocals are another high point. Like the guitar, the caustic snarls have a real bite to them. This could have made for a pretty nasty affair if there weren't these awful fantasy synths floating over the mix. It's way louder than anything else, and routinely simple and boring. Occasionally a symphonic part is attempted, and honestly I'll take the boring slower synth work. There's nothing worse than a shitty amateurish attempt at a metal band sounding symphonic with a midi faux-orchestra.

The Symphony of War sounds like a very early demo, with an absolute beginner doing the mixing job. It could be forgiven as a band with potential working out how to record in their nascent stages. However, this is unforgivable for a band with two full lengths already to their name. Even if it wasn't preposterously high in the mix, Ancient Land would have fared better if they ditched the keyboard.