Review: Númenor “Sword and Sorcery”

Númenor “Sword and Sorcery”
Stygian Crypt productions

Here we have living proof that Black Metal doesn’t must be unvarying and just boring poor (from both technique’s and arrangement’s points of view) music playing, as I heard few times, mostly by feelings and technical abilities or even fact if somebody can play some instrument at all aren’t important. I don’t say that we have to do with some immortal masterpiece which will come to history of Metal, but I listen to it with pleasure.

The band was found in 2004 as ESGAROTH (from these times in the band there stayed only Despot Marko Miranovic – voc), but as NUMEOR it exists since 2009. In meantime there were some changes in line-up, but since two years when joined S. Winterfell (bass) it seems that it’s stabile. By the way, here I have another riddle coz current line-up isn’t the same as this one which recorded “Sword and Sorcery” (this second one is less). Guys call their music by Black/Power Metal and I don’t know how it was on previous releases which were mostly EPs and singles (+¨two splits and full-length “Colossal Darkness”), but here we have most of songs in convention of, let’s say, Epic Black Metal and few ones or at least some fragments which can be easily connoted with Power Metal. The best examples for that is “Dragonheart” or “Dragon of Erebor”.

In general music is roomy and it happens a lot here. Riffs change quite often (but not too often), we can listen to some solos or, let’s call’em, technical blasts from time to time – but it happens only when song’s structure and character need this. Marko use both Black Metal growling and clean voice, sometimes something between them. I think that proportions between them are more or less common. Anyway, he’s good in what he does. Of course if I’d be nitpicking I’d find some shortcomings surely. But firstly they’d be very small and secondly every musician on this world knows that there’s always something to improve. Drums play also in very interesting and varying way. But something what really pay attention are intros or as musicians call it: preludes. Well, to be honest this name I like even more and it’s more adequate, I guess. They’re not just taken from some movie, opera or anywhere. Especially that in one of them there’s used a beginning of one of preludes of some very well-known composer. I’m not sure of that, but…

So if you like music like that this somehow connotes with world of Fantasy (anyway, this is good news for them coz one of the main topics of their lyrics is right this kind of literature, movies…) you should be able to get this stuff and listen to!