Artist: Sellsword
Title: …With Might And Vengeance
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Self Released
Sellsword. A ‘little power metal band from York’ as they have, self-deprecating, described themselves. Well my history with Sellsword must go back around ten years by now. Sometime after their first album was released I saw them live and was really taken with their incredible musicianship and grasp of melodic power metal as well as the huge fun they are live too. But, and this is something I feel a lot of dungeon synth fans would appreciate as much as power metal fans, you hear them play their music and you can dance like a loon with a huge grin, or close your eyes and be transported. Both are true, both are powerful skills in a band. So, on record…?
This is their third album, but their first with vocalist Nathan Harrison (ex-The Human Condition for those like me who remember the doomsters) who joined around four years ago after their original superb singer Stuart decided to step down. It’s also a very much in-band effort as the production is handled by the twin guitarists Henry Mahy and James Stephenson, and the mixing and mastering by James. And damn they know their job…
‘With Might And Vengeance’ is a keyboard heavy, powerful drum intro. The sound is huge, rich and sharp. The drumming just sounds so epic, the music opening vistas of adventure and glory…
You get chills, genuinely as this pushes back the real world and bursts into ‘The Bringers Of War’. There’s a feel of Bal Sagoth (Starfire Burning period…) as that awe is ramped up and the spoken word vocals set the scene. Add in goregeous guiter work and we’re off indeed. I must immediately note the rhythm section here before we move on. The two Toms, Drummer Warner and bass Keeley. They are extraordinary. Listen to the drum runs and fills, listen to the bass work weaving through it. Listen to it powering this beast of a siege engine. The guitars lead us upwards and the lead vocals absolutely soar; emotiona, depth and pitch perfect power and you suddenly realise that Sellsword have just unfurled their wings. A tune to die for, hooks that snag deep in your heart and gut.
It is, to be crude, fucking spectacular.
A previous single ‘Saxon Steel’ then raises its fist. Determined, stoic and fierce its a galloping gritty riff that very early Hammerfall would have killed to write. It speeds, it bounces on a great bass line. The tempo shifts, the dropping of gears before launching into the lead breaks is just what the King ordered. And jeez the guitar work is just… ludicrous. A little power metal band from York? Hah! This is festival rousing stuff.
‘Warwolf’ drops the pace a notch or two, the atmosphere grim. Ominous. The lyrics oppressive and the riff here is heavy as… Nathan’s vocal performance here is just so on point; dark, arrogant and full of warning and the range her uses from stern warning to warlike celebration is superb. And they mention a trebuchet! (Yes this is important)
I should probably say the subjects Sellsword cover mostly move smoothly between broad stroke history such as ‘Saxon Steel’, to specific events such as ‘Warwolf’ and eschewing dragons and such. However the vibrancy with which they paint their scenes fires the imagination no less than the fantastic. It is a world of war and glory and desperate battles, where holding the line is all and your kingdom is worth dying for. There are twists of the fantastic though, never fear, just subtle and mythic when they come.
‘Mighty Mercenaries’ is just an absolute joy, destined to be a crowd pleasing riot of dancing and singalongs with ale mugs raised high. Oh man. We are the ones who will bring the bloodshed, but killing we don’t do for free. Each head sent flying will cost you more coin. We’re the mighty mercenaries. The kind of song that you can’t fail to grin through if you have any joy in your soul. The songs jigs and bounces and is just pure delight.
In contrast, ‘Reignite The Flame’ is sombre, full of pain but not despair and those vocals again take you with the song, real emotional expression in every lyric that you can feel in your blood. A mid pace, a determination to the riff. Genuinely moving. ‘Boadicea Rise’ is pure energy; a turbulent, fierce warning with a thumping great breakdown and spectacular guitar shredding that never loses its way.
‘New Gods’. This one is of the fantastic and the melody rises to the challenge. A feel of power, or enlightenment and of fear too. But its such a good song, definitely one of my big takeaways from this album. I get little flashbacks to my youth and a little band from Chesterfield during the NWOBHM called Saracen and their single ‘We Have Arrived’. Musically almost zero overlap save for the feeling it grows in me of both wonder and a touch of trepidation. Damn I’m old. But this made me feel young. ‘Hall Of Heroes’ is a farewell, how things end and yet the living still have a task to finish. The rich sound of a memorial, of heroic deeds but the keyboards have a little refrain that hints at the trials to come but the guitar sols sends us higher into the world beyond.
The album closes with the near quarter of an hour of ‘The Age Of Night’. A dark and supernatural tale indeed for once. Organ sounds to begin set the mood, the music has darkness to it, a grandiose stage of shadow. A tale of the undead perchance, or of demons? Brave mercenaries facing darkness for coin. With guitars battling like swords, the drums and the bass pounding out the advance and the vocals reaching the horrifying truth that sometimes the real battle is not the one you face. Drama, action and a final twist; what more do you want from a closing track?!
Sellsword have completely outdone themselves on ‘…With Might And Vengeance’. The sound is huge and melodic, the musicianship is staggering, the compositions the best they have ever done and really for me launch them into the front line of power metal battalions. I do enjoy my power metal but, seriously, the last one I heard that took me so much was ‘Nightchurch’ by Sabbtail (go look it up, you won’t be disappointed) and that was 20 years ago. I may not always listen to power metal, but when I do I now have a new first port of call.
These unsung mercenaries have fought their way into legend for me with this. Power metal fans of any kind, throw them a coin. They never turn down gold.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 