Prelude to the Age of Heroes

Hail this colorful and orchestrally paced Bavarian band deserving of mention among well-tread peers Stygian Oath and Sellsword. It's a fairly seasoned twin guitar quintet going by imperatively commanded and triple-taking name of Don't Drop The Sword (here, jail jokes fall flat). The title of its third EP, following 2017 Path to Eternity full-length, is equally long and not-so-turgid: Prelude To The Age Of Heroes, a quick three track morsel of wickedly produced power meets prog meets speed type of crusading mixture certainly worth checking out.

Main resistance piece "Sands Of Time" begins with a beautiful and serenely plucked, downwind guitar progression accompanied by funky percussion taps before exploding into a truly masterful and labyrinthine blueprint of dexterity, with the riffs constantly picking up in traction and emotion, except for during the pastoral refrains, when the mildly Medieval sounding front man raises the song's fantasy and class to an exponential level.

What's different about DDtS compared to numerous run-of-the-mill performers lies in the classical styled execution, thus creating something much more grandiose than simple feel-good motorway indulgence. "The Eye Of The World" is just as regal with its jaunty and melodramatic, but fast, pirate metal shuffle and dude's thespian derived enchantment, whilst the folkloric, yet oddly placed "Prelude" makes for a nice finishing touch. As far as easily digestible samplers go, Don't Drop The Sword's Prelude To The Age Of Heroes is definitely worth the trouble of typing out in full.