Many tried to bring the Tolkienian and other various fantasy realms into reality with their audio and only a few have succeeded in doing so. Those who have finished such a quest and claimed their spoils include SUMMONING, CALADAN BROOD, and BAL-SAGOTH. Others tried to reach their height of success and only ended up being left out and average at best. It saddens me to include NUMENOR in that category, due to the fact that their cheesy titled new LP "Sword & Sorcery" brings nothing interesting to the table, but instead, serves as a catalyst to feed the particular niche of Epic Metal fans with filler for something better to come their way.

Epic (Black) Metal is a genre not everyone is able to replicate or be very inventive about, and because this release is everything but inventive, I'll start with the negatives. A fantasy metal album, supposedly Tolkien influenced spans 34 minutes? And with short mediocre at best lyrics? What am I supposed to make of this? SUMMONING's recent "Old Mornings Dawn" spanned an hour and a few minutes and BAL-SAGOTH's least lengthy release spans an average of 50 minutes, which is still considered short for such a genre. Moreover, this release felt like I'm listening to a HAMMERFALL record with guest features from Black Metal artists. To add on top of that, till the 9^th track on this record, the tracks were short and the only fantasy element I was able to grasp was the stellar flawless symphonic compositions. The guitars have nothing outstanding to them and the vocals couldn't get my attention due to the flawed formula throughout the entire record.

I'll admit "Dragonheart" had more potential and with deeper lyricism, better guitars and more narration could have been a fan favorite. The last two tracks "Bane of Durin" and "Sleeping Sorceress" displayed musical prowess and stand out in their length and slightly better song structure. Still however, nothing out of the ordinary is showcased throughout the entire album except the seriously exceptional symphonic compositions. Remove the keyboards and this is nothing but a cheesy power metal album with some black metal vocals thrown in the mix.

"Sword & Sorcery" is by no means a great record, but it serves its purpose as entertaining filler for the multitude of listeners in the genre that are anticipating something bigger. The whole blend however, doesn't induce the ecstasy you'd expect from the Epic Metal genre. This release is recommended for the dedicated fan base that wouldn't mind a compilation of BLIND GUARDIAN with a little dash of SUMMONING.