Battlelore - The Last Alliance

Artist: Battlelore
Album: The Last Alliance
Genre: Power Metal
Year: 2008
Origin: Finland

I guess this is Tolkien nerd theme month! Here's a fun power metal-ish album, with a good mix of clean female vocals and growled male vocals. It's not super deep content-wise, but it has some nice melodies. The biggest thing I think they should've changed about this album is to move the first track to the end, because it's so great that it kinda overpowers the following songs.

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Falls of Rauros - Of Stone And the Stars In the Sky

Artist: Falls of Rauros
Album: Of Stone And the Stars In the Sky
Genre: Black Metal
Year: 2007
Origin: USA

This is a great little two song demo from American folk/black metal band Falls of Rauros. Yes the name is awesome, but no you don't have to be a nerd to appreciate the music. Both tracks are largely instrumental, and the title-track especially is very good. The production could be a lot better, but it doesn't detract from the music too much for me.

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World's End Girlfriend - The Lie Lay Land

Artist: World's End Girlfriend
Album: The Lie Lay Land
Genre: Experimental
Year: 2005
Origin: Japan

This album is a psychedelic style of post-rock that incorporates ambient electronic music and some jazz passages. Japan knows how to do experimental music right, and this album in particular is wonderfully beautiful to my ears. Headphones or a quality sound system are necessary to pick up on the depth of the music. It is probably different from the music you normally listen to, but I hope you will give it a try.

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