Album Review: Christopher Lee - By the Sword and the Cross

Sir Christopher Lee cosplaying and singing metal...sign me up!

Salutations, Rave Up Music fans and people who have happen to stumble upon this blog. ‘Tis I, Sir Barius, and…yeah, I am not a knight at all. I am just a music guy living in the desert that reviews, makes fun of, and complains about music, which is actually a lot of fun to write. Anyway, this is Rave Up Music, and today, we are talking about a very common occurrence in music: actors releasing a music album.

It would seem like a natural thing to have film/stage actors and actresses to cross over into the world of music. With the demand to be multi-talented in music and acting, there are plenty of thespians who can make the transition into releasing their own music albums, and often times with excellent results. 

Oh, Idina...*sigh*...

However, there are times when actors who are musically-trained released an album and they make you wonder just what the hell they were thinking.

Someday soon...someday...

Today, we are going to look at an album from a well-respected British actor as he goes from conquering the stage and screen to conquering the heavy metal world. Today, I am talking about Sir Christopher Lee.

How can you not smile at this picture? It is awesome...

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: Christopher Lee has a heavy metal album? I will admit that I could not believe myself that when I heard that Count Dracula himself had released a metal album. I mean this it is freakin’ Saruman from Lord of the Rings.

Actually, this makes the line of "Now he has a mind of metal" make a LOT more sense...

But, much to my surprise, Count Dooku here is actually a classically-trained bass vocalist. He has previously sung on the soundtracks for the films The Wicker Man (1973), The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), and Funny Man (1994). Lee started getting involved in heavy metal music by teaming up with Rhapsody of Fire vocalist Fabio Lione to sing the song “The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream” on the Rhapsody of Fire album Symphony of Enchanted Lands II.

So much awesomeness in one video!

Furthermore, Lee provided narration for many of Rhapsody of Fire’s albums, and even worked with the band Manowar on their rerecording of their first album, Battle Hymns, replacing the late Orson Wells. Lee would also recorded a cover album called Revelation, that tried to bridge the gap between heavy metal music and classical by featuring standard songs, including the “Toreador Song” from the opera Carmen.

Hearing Lee’s cover of “Little Drummer Boy” is just amazing…

Which brings us to today’s album. In 2010, Lee released his first solo album of original work entitled Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross. This was a concept symphonic metal album about the life of the first Holy Roman Emperor, King Charlemagne, and his constant battles with the Saxons. The album’s music was composed by Macro Sabiu, and features many guest artists, including Lee’s daughter Christina, who provides the narration on several tracks on the album. At the time of its released, the album received high critical praise, and even received the “Spirit of Metal” award at 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God Awards.

So, is Dr. Fu Manchu’s first attempt at a solo metal album worth a listening? Well, to give you a short answer: OH, HELL YEAH! If you want a longer answer, keep on reading.

NOTE: Unlike previous album reviews, I do not have full audio examples of each song for your listening pleasure. I do recommend checking out the full album on iTunes or Amazon.

THE ALBUM COVER:

Wow, this cover is simply spectacular! You have Sir Christopher Lee here dressed as Charlemagne, sitting on his throne with sword and cross in hand. I love the reddish glow behind him, giving this almost holy presence around him. As I have said before, an album cover can sometimes be an indicator of what you might hear on the album. If I had judge purely on the cover, we are truly in for a heavy metal butt kicking. So, let us get to the music.

THE TRACKS:

“Overture”

An overture of any musical work is meant to be an attention grabber, as well as provide the audience with a preview what is to come, and “Overture” on this album does a great job of getting you invested right away. The song is very past pace with great orchestra sweeps and bit of heavy metal guitars and drums, albeit briefly. Suddenly, the mood shifts to a more somber sound, as we transition into the first Act.

“Act I: Intro” and “Act I: King of the Franks”

The next ten tracks are split into five acts, each with an introduction track and then a song that goes with the intro track. Each introduction is narrated by Christina Lee. In the first intro track, Lee describes the year 814 A.D., as Europe emerges out of the Dark Ages. She describes the dying moments of Charlemagne, performed by Christopher Lee, as he lies dying among those in his royal court. The music supporting for the intro is dark, foreboding, and dramatic, setting the mood of the album and the coming track.

With “King of the Franks,” Charlemagne sings about his life, and his deeds, in which he feels he must cleanse his soul before he descends into the heavens. His advisors and his court sing his praises as all he has done was good and purely great in the eyes of God. The orchestration supporting the singers is soothing as Charlemagne reflects back on everything, while it shifts to a grandiose and powerful with a brass fanfare when the chorus sings of Charlemagne’s super-special-awesomeness. Lee’s vocals are strong and powerful, but with some sincerity to them, as he portrays Charlemagne in his weakened state. Overall, it is a very good start to this album.

“Act II: Intro” and “Act II: “The Iron Crown of Lombardy”

In this intro, our narrator describes the time Charlemagne dismissed the daughter of the rule of Lombardy from marriage, and how the King of the Lombards seek vengeance by taking over the portions of Rome occupied by the Franks. Pope Hadrian seeks out Charles to prepare for war, and to spare those who live in the holy lands in Italy. There is not a lot of music supporting the narration, so there is not much to comment on.

However, “The Iron Crown of Lombardy” is a truly epic track. Being over eight minutes in length, this song has a march feel to it, as Charlemagne prepares his army for battle against the Lombards. Unlike “King of the Frank,” there is a lot more use of distorted guitars and heavy drums to give the field of preparing to go to battle. Again, the orchestra creates a somber mood when Pope Hadrian sings about peace for those in Rome. Overall, it is a very superb track that brings out the more metal side of this symphonic metal concept album.

“Act III: Intro” and “Act III: The Bloody Verdict of Verden”

With this Act, we explore Charlemagne’s biggest rivals: The Saxons. The Saxons were ruled over by the Franks, and were converted to Christianity, but were resistant to do so, and would practice their Pagan ways in secrecy. Eventually, Charlemagne found out about the Saxons practicing Paganism and killing of Christian followers, and one day, captures thousands of them, and gave them one chance to renounce their ways and embrace Christianity, or he would have his men decapitate the heads of all the Saxon men. And, you can probably guess what happened next…

You know, up until now, I have not really found anything to be critical about this album. The music is really good, and the performances from everyone involved are well-executed. That is until “The Bloody Verdict of Verden.” I know that it is a very serious subject matter, but I cannot lie to all of you: this song is a bit cheesy, silly and a bit over-the-top. Lee’s performance of the Ghost of Charlemagne and Vincent Ricciardi’s performance of Charlemagne during the Verdict of Verden are a bit hammy at times, and the supporting instrumental music, though very epic and heavy at times, actually add more to the somewhat goofiness of the song. And honestly, it is just straight up fun to listen to. Here is the chorus to the song:

I shed blood of Saxon men,

I shed the blood of the Saxon men.

I shed the blood of Saxon men,

I shed the blood of four thousand Saxon men.

I am sorry Charlemagne; whose blood did you shed? But anyway, this is the only song from the album that received a music video, and the video itself is pretty cheesy and bit low-budget. I think that “The Bloody Verdict of Verden” was the track that Lee and Company thought would be the big hit, especially since the last track is an instrumental only version of the song. Overall, as silly as the song is, I did enjoy it. The guitars are very heavy, the orchestra demonstrates excellent musicianship, and even if Lee and Ricciardi are chewing the scenery in their singing, they really keep your attention during the song.

“Act IV: Intro” and “Act IV: The Age of Oneness Out of Diversity”

With the fourth act, Charlemagne begins to feel the weight of killing the Saxons, and questioning his actions. His actions started to give him a reputation that he is a king to fear, but in his mind he feels his actions are just for that of God and for the “true religion,” Christianity. He hopes that God will still forgive him for his actions, and that he will be well-remembered as a good king, and that his legend will be known throughout history. Man, this history lesson is getting a bit heavy…

This is a well-written song. Lee’s performance demonstrates his abilities as a bass voice, and proves that he can belt out like the rest of them. Not bad for a guy that was 88 years old at the time. The chorus praising Charlemagne is glorious, almost to the point where it feels like something out of Handel’s Messiah. As usual, the orchestra is perfectly performed, and the arrangement is delightful to listen to. If you listen closely, there are hints of a medieval style in the music, which is appropriate since the life of Charlemagne took place during the Dark Ages. The heavy metal aspect is a bit more prominent in this song, and actually complements the medieval bits in the orchestra. Overall, it is not as memorable as “The Bloody Verdict of Verden,” but it is a nice song that shows the internal struggle within Charlemagne.

“Act V: Intro” and “Act V: Starlight”

This act focuses on the more human side of Charlemagne, as we are introduce to Charlemagne’s wife, Hildegard, who was supportive and there by his side during his victories and accomplishments. Hildegard was a strong woman, but still gentle and kind. Quite often, both Charlemagne and Hildegard would reflect and think about how one day their nation will have peace and prosperity, even long after they have left this world.

The song “Starlight” is a power rock ballad, and honestly, this is my favorite track on the entire album. The duet between Christopher Lee (Charlemagne) and Lydia Salnikova (Hildegard) is beautiful. There is really good chemistry between Lee and Salnikova, that shows love between Charlemagne and Hildegard, as they celebrate all that has been accomplished and raise a glass to the future. The orchestra and rock band are represented equally in this track, and give a performance actually made me feel good, despite the fact that they are praising the brutal actions of Charlemagne. Even though “The Bloody Verdict of Verden” was written like it was a single, I think that “Starlight” could have easily made it into any Billboard chart if it was released as one.

“Finale”

This instrumental track is one that will get you banging your head at times. The orchestral parts are dramatic and powerful, and set the song up to be a nice end to the album…if it was the last track on the album. Still, it is a nice short instrumental track that I wish had more time on the album to really let you soak in the superb European Cinematic Symphony Orchestra’s performance on this album.

“Iberia”

Right off the bat, you this feeling of unrest in the music, thanks to the dissonant chord of the string section. “Iberia” is sort of a side track to Charlemagne’s mission against the Saxons, focusing on the Franks conflict with the Saxons in Iberia. The music has a again that “march into battle” field, sound effects of horses galloping, and men being slaughtered. During this, the main guitar riff from “Finale” crescendos into the foreground, building up the end of the conflict. In the end, Charlemagne’s forces were successful, but as they leave the battlefield, the con across another tribe under Frankish rule, killing some of Charlemagne’s troops, indicating they have betrayed them. And…that is it. No seriously, that is how the song ends. Wow, talk about a cliffhanger…

Honestly, this track feels like it is a filler track, but in reality, I think it was to set-up the next album, which I will get to at another time...

“The Bloody Verdict of Verden (Instrumental)”

As I mentioned earlier, this is just an instrumental version of the Act II song of the same name. The only thing I can add to it is that it is not as cheesy without Lee and Ricciardi’s vocals in there, which to me, makes the track lose a bit of its appeal.

OVERALL IMPRESSION:

With some of my other reviews, I had some previous experience with the subject matter before I decided to review and tell you about my personal opinion about it. But, with Christopher Lee’s Charlemagne: by the Sword and the Cross, I had never any heard it before, so I went into this review blindly, not knowing what to expect. After listening to it, I can say I absolutely loved it! The music is, for lack of a better term, absolutely epic, and feels like it was taken right out of a big-budget fantasy movie score. The orchestra performs beautifully, and the heavy metal band complements everything they are doing on the album.

Definitely the standout of this album is Sir Christopher Lee’s performance as Charlemagne. In the span of sixty minutes, Lee performs with a lot of emotions, including dramatic, melancholy, and peaceful. Throughout the album, Lee does a great job demonstrating his bass vocals and his control of dynamics, knowing when to belt it out, or when to pull it back a bit. I also must give kudos to the rest of the singers, who all work off well with Lee as they draw you into the story of Charlemagne.

If I do have to give some criticism towards the album, it would be in two aspects about it. The first aspect I had a problem with was that the narration tracks were a bit long at times, and a few of them felt unnecessary. Even though Christina Lee does a great job setting the mood, when it comes to concept albums, I would prefer the music to tell the story instead of having the story be narrated to me. The second aspect I had issues with was how sparse the heavy metal part of the symphonic metal was used. Do not get me wrong, the symphonic part of the music is great, but I wish there was more of a metal presence on a symphonic METAL album. However, when the metal band is featured in the music, it flows nicely with the orchestra.

Overall, Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross is truly a musical achievement on the part of Lee and everyone involved with its production. As much as I love this album, I will say that this is really not an album for everyone. If you are looking for a straight-up symphonic heavy metal album with Christopher Lee singing, this is not the album for you. This is more of a dramatic rock musical, if not an English opera, and might be a bit intense for the casual music listener. I strongly recommend this album for those who want something a little bit different, and are a bit more serious in their music listening. If you feel you can handle the subject matter and the more serious music (minus “The Bloody Verdict of Verden” and “Starlight”), check out this album, and give your support for the oldest heavy metal performer, the most excellent Sir Christopher Lee.

Man, I have to say, that album was a bit intense to review, and was a lot to take in. I think for next time, I need to look at a little bit more lighter material. And I think I know what to do, so join me next time on Rave Up Music as we look at a match made in heaven: heavy metal and video games. And no, it is not Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Until then, I am your music reviewer Barius, and I am going to leave you with Sir Christopher Lee singing and dancing about alcohol. Enjoy, and as always, keep on rockin’.

DISCLAIMER: Rave Up Music does not endorse any alcoholic products. However, we highly endorse any song that makes Sir Christopher Lee act completely goofy and insane!

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