Year: 2025
Label: Rebellion Records

With their third album, US-Dutch Live By The Sword keep on consolidating their sound, and staying away from anything easy to pigeonhole. At this stage, the band exist in a liminal zone between metal and oi!, being simultaneously both and neither.

At the same time as a uniquely LBTS sound emerges and solidifies itself, perhaps the band are losing something: the element of surprise. At this stage, everyone familiar with the previous albums knows what to expect. In some ways, The Pagan Pantheon is a rather predictable album.

Let’s backtrack a bit, in case there’s anyone not yet familiar with the band. Live By The Sword emerged from the woodwork in the mid-2010’s. Consisting of scene veterans from acts such as Razorblade and Strongarm And The Bullies, their initial sound was a rather stripped down, back to basics kind of oi!. Not too much distortion, no metal, no hardcore, just hard hitting street rock & roll. The clean, hard sound combined with vocalist Erick Barnes’ vicious snarl reminded one of Skrewdriver – minus the noxious politics.

Then came the debut album Exploring Soldiers Rise (2021, reviewed here). Overnight, it seemed to the listener, the band had taken several steps in a more metal direction, incorporating elements of epic metal (think viking era Bathory) and even black metal into their sound, without sacrificing one bit of their hard oi! attitude. Not only was it an exceptionally strong album, it was one of those moments where you just had to do a double take to make sure you were actually listening to LBTS.

Second album Cernunnos (2023, reviewed here) offered more of the same, but was a step further in a harder metal direction – and saw the band evolve their lyrics further into realms of pagan traditions and a stern rejection of the modern world.

In contrast to the development of previous albums, The Pagan Pantheon doesn’t see the band take significant steps in any direction. The guitar tone and the riffs are heavy, hard quite metal, with traces of the bands’ punk origins in there. Barnes’ vocals are still a confrontational, hostile snarl, which keeps LBTS rooted in their oi! roots. The lyrics still deal with warrior pride, tradition, ancestral belief and a rejection of the follies of the modern world.

Whilst undeniably LBTS are increasingly moving into a realm of their own with few to no musical peers, and doing it with both style and quality, there is another side to the coin. The predictability is a downside to them consolidating their style. Album three sounds less hungry, less ambitious, less trailblazing than the two before it. As a result, it’s not quite as exciting.

If the above makes it sound like I’m trashing the album, let me assure you: I’m not. If you liked the previous albums, most likely you will also like this one. I do. It’s not as exhilarating, it’s got a whiff of routine about it, but it is still a very solid and skillfully crafted album. It’s laden with both aggression and atmosphere, and manages to balance elements from epic/viking/black metal with the oi!/street punk elements just as well as the previous albums.

If there’s one thing I’m missing from The Pagan Pantheon, it’s those knockout tracks that truly stand apart from the rest. Tracks like Into A New Dark Age from the debut, which managed to stand out even on an album as strong as Exploring Soldiers Rise. Gaia is perhaps the only track that comes close on The Pagan Pantheon, with some truly memorable vocal melodies and a strong, melancholic atmosphere.

But overall, and despite the reservations expressed above, The Pagan Pantheon is a solid and worthy third entry in LBTS’ discography. If predictability is one side of the coin, then on the other is a unique, skilled band playing into all of their strengths. Solid songwriting, increasingly strong identity, powerful atmosphere and absolutely one of my favourite vocalists around at the moment.

So if the above concentrated a bit more on the downsides of the album, I want to close with a more positive note. The Pagan Pantheon proves that LBTS’ two first albums weren’t flukes. It proves that LBTS’ musical concept has lasting appeal and is a rich well to draw from.

In essence, in the end, The Pagan Pantheon is a good album. And LBTS remains one of my favourite bands in the oi! scene – even if they’re one foot out of it by now.

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