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I am glad there is the new upsurge in Traditional Metal bands, especially in my homeland, which is too often mired in trendy punk/metalcore/sludge bullshit, but not every band, no matter how noble their intent, is ready for the big time. Blazon Rite have their hearts in the right place, but their songwriting is not up to their ambition. This is pretty straight-up metal in the vein of Brocas Helm, Gatekeeper, or Eternal Champion. The production is decent, the riffs are mostly bland, and the lead work is sometimes startlingly good. The real weakness is vocalist Johnny Halladay, who has a flat, tuneless voice and no sense of meter or phrasing. The lyrics here all seem to be telling stories, but that just means the vocal lines are secondary to cramming in all the words, so they are like having somebody read a chapter summary at you. Much as I laud Blazon Rite for what they are trying to do, they are not doing it very well.