…Of Conquest (Independent)

Something has happened to Scythia. They still dress on-stage like they’re on their way to do some live-action role-playing and sing songs of fantasy and heroism, with titles like “Rise of the Kraken” and “Bear Claw Tavern”, all presented with Dio-esque clean vocals and tuneful, rousing folk-metal themes. But they’ve managed to shed some of the “Hi, we’re nerds” goofiness that was an endearing, but probably limiting, part of the band, and dropped Morgan Zentner, the “oboe of death”, from their lineup, opting instead for Jeff Black’s at times fanfarelike keyboard-playing.

…Of Conquest shows Scythia making a credible contribution to the global phenomenon of folk metal, with a little help from some rather prestigious names, of the sort with honest-to-Odin umlauts in them: there’s a guest appearance by Teemu Mäntysaari of Helsinki’s Wintersun, as well as mixing and mastering by Svante Forsbäck (Apocalyptica, Korpiklaani) and Nino Laurenne, and the album was recorded in part in Germany with production by Lasse Lammert (Alestorm, Gloryhammer, Svartsot).

The songs are tighter and pack more of a confident punch than past Scythia releases, with faster, more inventive guitar solos (leader David Khan appears to have found a potion that increases proficiency).

Too bad that they’ve also swapped Vancouver for Calgary for their home base (better day jobs there); though should they win the Wacken Metal Battle Calgary, they might actually end up competing in Toronto against the as-yet-undeclared Vancouver champs.