Band:	Andras
Album:	Sword Of Revenge
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	1999
Guest review by:	Uirapuru

01. Andras
02. Listen To The Cry Of The Banshee
03. Banished In Hell
04. Conquering The Iron Scepter
05. Kingdom Of Mourning Souls
06. Graveyard Of Souls
07. Reaching For The Throne
08. Black Wings Of Death
09. Spiritually
10. Burning Graves Of Dunwich
11. Fleisch Und Blut
12. Damnation
13. Sword Of Revenge
14. Chalice Of Dragons Blood
15. Outro

What about Andras? They are OK. I guess nothing else can be said. The members of the band (that change in a stunning way) have simply sustained the band's name by releasing one average album after another. Every release has a pleasant little moment that prevents us from considering it a total waste of time, from the raw Black Metal early days to the Epic/Black melodies that started to emerge with Quest Of Deliverance? except for this album.

It must be said, 1999 was not a good year for Andras. They had suffered some significant changes in the line-up, losing the drummer (Shadow) and the vocalist (Earth) to the eternal cliché: ''personal reasons''. Truth be told, both were hastily recruited for the band, and departed just as sudden, marking their passage only with the unnecessary and poorly performed Sword Of Revenge, and leaving nothing but a stain in the already average discography.

Those two temporary members hold the responsibility for this album's failure in many aspects. Earth's voice is a major weak point in the album; his shrieks are just annoying and ruin many good moments from the decent guitar work, which occasionally gets inspired and presents us with some delightful riffs, easily noticeable in songs like ''Black Wings Of Death'' and especially ''Fleisch Und Blut'' (best song of the album by far). The man behind the drums is not as guilty, yet still fails to electrify and excite the listener, aided by a poor production, where the equalization of the instruments seems imprecise, some overlapping others in an irritant way.

The main thematic is interesting but far from original, as barbarian battles in the Middle Ages are not an unknown subject among Metal albums. And the raw Black Metal performed in this album does not transmit any of the epic feeling intended, despite the attempts with sporadic use of keyboards and clean vocals. It has worked on their previous work, Die Rückkehr Der Dunklen Krieger, because that album's production allowed the propagation of these feelings by equilibrating the instruments appropriately, and therefore not displeasing the listener.

Sword Of Revenge is a bad album. Very little to feel, nothing to be impressed with. The new direction of their sound was a good call after this release, at least keeping the band away from the oblivion of the unoriginal incompetents. Most of Andras works deserve to be recommended, since the talent exists (as far as Count Damien Nightsky remains in the line-up)? but not in this album.