ArArtist: Castlesmash
Title: Battle Mace
Type: EP
Label: Digital / Sokol Keep
Apparently this is A.J. Blackett’s fault so please direct any complaints, tales of weapon product failure etc to him, not me. And allegedly not to Sokol Keep either…
The first product testing is ‘Zweihander’ which with a Germanic one two three bounces into life on a jaunty bass and a dancing riff. Gang vocal backing , the strange growling vocals and ludicrously happy riff and melody take on oompah ground and fling their weapon around with abandon. Remember Fintroll when they were happy singing about troll hammers? Kind of like that with a thudding great breakdown and some very instructive lyrics on how to use said weapon with one hand two hand…
‘Chivalry In The Court, Misery In The Field’ is…er… ahem. A dating app profile? See my crest, be impressed, lift your dress, draw your last breath. I am a ladies man and I know how to dance, I have a lot of land in the South of France… and then details being a death machine. All for the ladies of course. The problem is you WILL be singing along by this point because the tune is so on point (no doubt like the knight’s tippy-toe dancing…).
It is all terribly silly fun.
‘Battle Mace’ is product placement number two. A wonderful grand sound that leads through a mad medieval dance with such verve that the lyrics battle mace, smash your face (possibly the best lyrics since Bon Scott penned ‘I’m a rocker I’m a roller I’m a real out of controller…) just roll off your tongue. I mean you can just see the chaos that this would cause in those medieval crowd pits of yore.
As any true honourable knight would, this ends with ‘Long With The King’. Somehow I don’t trust the loyalty of the singer…The vocals scamper around the shadows with a perpetual sneer as the wonderful musical arrangement of guitars and pipes and… um, banjo? Ukulele? Not a clue but it’s borderline brilliant.
That’s the thing about this. It may be very, very silly but damn the songs and the arrangements are so good, so joyous and so accomplished they transcend all that. You will not spend a happier quarter hour being instructed in weapon play and chivalry. It’s frankly just a delight.
Still don’t fancy that king’s chances though…
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 