Viking Metal

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    Ereb Altor – Gastrike (2012)

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    What do you get when you mix Falkenbach with Moonsorrow and Candlemass? Ereb Altor is the answer. Mixing Viking Metal elements with some Doom, this Swedish band has been constantly releasing albums since 2008 with a few tweaks in-between but nothing really revolutionary. In “Gastrike”, the band delivers seven tracks of catchy guitar-driven tunes that ultimately feel a bit repetitive and quite dull in some points.

    Leading with the atmospheric opening section to “The Gathering of Witches”, Ereb Altor nicely transitions into some power riffs and typical Viking Metal elements bordering on the Black Metal side of things. There is a rawness to the band’s sound that is quite nice, but sometimes makes the music feel a bit convoluted. “Dance of Darkness” moves a bit into Doom territory, but the guitars nicely shift back and forth between Black Metal and Doom Metal.

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    Unleashed – Odalheim (2012)

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    Continuing on the concept brought forth on “As Yggdrasil Trembles”, Unleashed delivers their every two years release with “Odalheim”. As one of the forefathers of Viking Metal, Unleashed keeps bringing it every time they release an album and with the high-intensity of “Odalheim” they keep maintaining their aggressive-yet-melodic brand of DM that many bands wish they could play.

    Blasting through their opener “Fimbulwinter”, this release is off to a great start with fast riffing, blistering drumming and the always effective vocals of Hedlund. The riffing courtesy of the band’s longstanding guitarists Anders Schultz and Tomas Olsson nicely switches band from high-powered Viking Metal sections and some barebones DM chugs. It is very surprising to see that the band has not had any line-up changes in years and it shows in the overall quality and tightness of their music.

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    Heidevolk – Batavi (2012)

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    After reviewing what felt like thousands of uninspired Viking/Folk Metal releases in 2011, we now find ourselves wondering where these kinds of albums are in 2012. After the disappointing latest release of Eluveitie, it is Heidevolk’s turn on the hot seat. “Batavi” marks the band’s fourth full-length release and it shows great maturity from the band in terms of songwriting, but not too much in terms of diversity.

    Using almost no ‘fancy’ Folk instruments, the band relies on powerful and catchy guitar riffs to carve their own sound. While we would have immediately discarded this album if we heard a fucking hurdy gurdy, but Heidevolk delivers a very well-targeted riffing assault that will appeal to fans of bands like Tyr, Falkenbach and Moonsorrow. For over 39 minutes, “Batavi” delivers very traditional and ‘simple’ songs that are pretty solid due to their catchiness.

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    Nordheim – Lost In The North (2011)

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    With the current world filled with countless releases that sound very much alike, Nordheim makes their contribution in that category with their Folk/Viking Metal release “Lost in the North”. Don’t get us wrong, the band does a good job in making high-intensity, well-crafted music, but they lack the creativity to actually have a sound of their own.

    Featuring a mash-up of Thyrfying, Turisas, Moonsorrow, Tyr, etc, the band has a very intense sound that pounds through 10 tracks with excellently executed instrumentation, but this is as far as it goes. The choir-like structures are very typical, the keyboards are very typical, the screams are also very typical, even the basic melodies of the songs are just the same we have heard back. Yes, we agree that the band is very aggressive and has a high-intensity approach to the genre, but this has also been already done.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Skálmöld – Baldur (2011)

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    Hailing from Iceland, today we have Skálmöld and their debut album “Baldur”. Having signed to Napalm Records, it shows some signs of the quality of this fairly unknown band. When Folk/Viking Metal bands are a dime a dozen, it is nice to hear some bands that have something else to bring to the table and Skálmöld does a good job in leaving us with a promising debut album.

    Mixing many different influences into their music, the first thing to standout is that almost no song in this release sounds a like. The band mixes catchy choir-like sections, engaging guitar solos and powerful riffing to perfection and creates a very epic and untraditional atmosphere that will surely appeal to fans of the genre that are tired of bands playing the same thing over and over.

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    Týr - The Lay of Thrym (2011)

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    The Progressive Viking Metal kings mark their return with “The Lay of Thrym”, and as we can hear it is a pretty convincing one indeed. Two years have passed since “By the Light of the Northern Star”, and with this new album the band picks-up exactly where they left of and continue their onslaught with very well crafted Viking epics.

    If you are not a stranger to Týr’s older works, you will definitely love “The Lay of Thrym”, however, if you are new to the band, this will be a very good introduction into the magical sound behind this very talented band. In the 10 tracks presented in this release, we are treated to very intricate guitar work, catchy clean vocals, and full songs that grab your attention and keep it for the duration of the release.

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    Demonaz – March of the Norse (2011)

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    Immortal’s ex-guitarist and lyricist Demonaz finally delivers his debut ‘solo’ album with “March of the Norse”. In this release we have mixed impressions since it sounds like an Immortal album with clean vocals (for the most parts). This gives the release a Black Metal sound combined with Folk/Viking/Pagan Metal elements.

    With all the hype behind this release, we are somewhat disappointed by the lack of creativity behind this release. However, the music is quite catchy and enjoyable and this release will surely be in the top 10 lists of many publications, but not ours.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Vintersorg – Jordpuls (2011)

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    After a 4 year absence, today we have another very solid release by Vintersorg titled ”Jordpuls”. In this release we get 9 tracks of typical Vintersorg full with epic vocal arrangements and great musicianship, and the overall Vintersorg sound imprinted in every second of this release.

    While fans of Vintersorg and Borknagar will rejoice with this release, we think is just more of the same with a few changes here and there. After the ‘experimentation’ phase that Vintersorg took in the last few albums, it is nice to her him coming back to the Progressive infused Viking Metal.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Svartpest – Mjodfest (2010)

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    With a story that reads like a soap opera (according to the press kit), today we have Norway’s Svartpest and their latest release “Modfest”. In this album we get 7 tracks of a mixture of Black Metal with some Viking/Folk influences that feels somewhat a bit undercooked, but decent enough to make an ok album.

    Taking 3 songs from their 99 demo (with the same title), the band gives us a total of 7 tracks that dramatically vary in quality, but have a few decent ones to call this album a ‘lukewarm’ success. We have nothing against such releases, but we think is kind of lame to rehash older songs for newer releases (unless you are a band with a long (and recognized) trajectory).

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Falkenbach – Tiurida (2011)

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    After breaking into the metal scene with a huge bang (and melody), thanks to their Viking Metal style back in 1996 with their majestic debut album “...En Their Medh Riki Fara...” Falkenbach has been constantly improving their sound until they seemed to disappear back in 2005 with “Heralding - The Fireblade”.

    “Tiurida” marks their first release in 6 years and while it still has nice music, it also shows that (for us) Falkenbach is a one trick pony and can’t seem to diverge from their well defined, almost formulaic approach to the genre. We don’t argue with what the band has done in the past, but taking a 6 year break and then returning with the same old stuff makes them sound a bit dated, specially after all the better bands that started to get recognized  in the genre after 2005.

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