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Wild Rites and Ancient Songs is the second full-length album from Philadelphia’s Blazon Rite. You’ve no doubt run across this band if you’ve been following the epic metal movement that has been building strength slowly but surely over the past few years, led by bands like Eternal Champion, Legendry, Megaton Sword, Smoulder, etc. Their last album, 2021’s Endless Halls of Golden Totem, had the right intentions but the band fell short in a number of areas from the production to the songwriting. I’m pleased to report that album number two is better. The sound is much fuller, and the production allows each instrument to breathe, so the atmosphere of a galloping horde riding into battle with swords and spears held high definitely comes across, whether Blazon Rite is thundering along on "Wild Rites and Ancient Songs" and "The Coming Tide of Yule" or stoking a slow-burning fire on "The Fall of a Once Great House." The songwriting is more focused, ditching the bluesy, hard rock elements from the last album and emphasizing the band’s great ear for riffs. Where they still need to improve is how they incorporate the vocals and lyrics into each song, because they sound like they are competing with one another rather than working together. Speaking of the singer, he is all in, which is a good thing, and he has a good voice, but his approach may be something of an acquired taste. At times he breaks out lines that could be something from a Solstice album, at others his vibrato threatens to take over in places it shouldn’t. While there are things Blazon Rite still need to work on, Wild Rites and Ancient Songs is a step in the right direction.