THE BLADE

"The Blade" slots in between two arguable neo folk classics by Tony Wakeford's SOL INVICTUS, "In the Rain" and "In a Garden Green", but falls somewhat short of the quality of the aforementioned. After a promising start in the form of the portentous title instrumental and several more acoustic numbers, particularly "In Heaven", it begins to wallow in repetitive phrasings even more than normally, and never ending chants of choruses, sapping the potential of tunes like "House above the World", "Time Flies" and "Once Upon a Time". In contrast, on "In a Garden Green", similar songs like "Come the Morning" were gratefully guarded by their trusty neighbors. "See How we Fall" sees itself flat on its front in a tortured guitar solo, accent on "tortured guitar" unfortunately. Even ambient escapades like "Gealdor" and "From the Wreckage", and the mildly alluring use of strings throughout cannot escape most of this distinctly average outing.

Luckily, "Laws and Crowns" finds Wakeford leaving the industrial wasteland for the backwaters of the neo folk shanty, somewhat reminiscent of NIGHTWISH offerings of that ilk yet floats and bobs well enough without a PFD. It just isn't quite enough to buoy the rest, and the shortage of really impressive numbers leads to a project that isn't even quite as strong as its admittedly modest individual exhibits. 2.5 stars downgraded for dullness.