Oskoreien – Illusions EP (2009) Review 9.5/10

In European folk mythology, the Oskoreien were a phantasmal horde of dead souls who roamed the land, often portrayed as being led by Odin, the Norse god of poetry and war.

In Pagan lore, the Oskoreien (loosely translated “The Wild Hunt” ) were the only connection between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. Led by Odin, the Norse God of poetry and war, the souls comprising the Oskoreien would travel the land bringing both joy and sorrow, as it was deserved, to the realm of humans.

Oskoreien is a North American ambient black metal band that incorporates folk elements. The Illusious EP only has two songs but is still close to 25 minutes in length. You can download the songs  here: http://oskoreien.bandcamp.co

The music is thick with atmosphere. There is a subtle beauty to it and each song is a journey on it’s own. At first I felt like I was alone in the forest, or climbing to the top of the mountain to look over land. Then the music took me into a dark city with empty streets. The ground was wet and the lights were reflecting and bleeding into one another. Does anyone else listen to music this way? If so, put this on and let me know where your mind wonders.

It’s also extremely impressive when you take into account that it was all created by one guy, Jay Valena. He recorded everything except the harsh vocals. Currently he is looking for musicians. If you live in LA and are interested check out his post here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=37020019&blogId=529388302

I would instantly recommend this to fans of Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room, and the older Shining work. Check it out.

9.5/10

Finntroll – Nifelvind (2010) Review 8.9/10

There be trolls about. Finntroll is back with another frolic through the darker parts of the Finnish forest. Nifelvind is a lot more fun than their last album, Ur Jordens Djup.

In Ur Jordens Djup, Finntroll really reached a dark point in their music. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean that their music much more diabolical and sinister. It was like a rainy day filled with necromancy. The sound is much the same in Nifelvind. It’s still dark and somewhat evil sounding, but this time it’s more darkly mischievous than sinister.  I can definitely drink ale to this.

They have introduced some new instruments on this album. I am loving the sound of the xylophone on some of the tracks. It brings to mind images of trolls dancing about in torch-lit caves. There is also some banjo on this album. I would rate this as one of the “folkier” Finntroll albums just because there are a lot of acoustic instruments and a bit less keyboard than one is used to.

As for the production and performances… The production is nearly perfect. It seems hard not to find a well produced album these days. The performances are quite good as well. The guitar is just as complicated as it needs to be. The effects and folk instruments are all well placed. I especially like the background vocals. We hear chanting and even some epic choruses.

I do prefer some of the more upbeat Finntroll albums like Nattfödd, but I am really enjoying this trip through the darker parts of the forest.

8.9/10

Line-up:
Vreth – Vocals
Routa – Guitars
Skrymer – Guitars
Tundra – Bass
Trollhorn – Keyboards
Beast Dominator – Drums

1. Vindfärd / Människopesten 05:36
2. Eliytres 03:46
3. Fiskarens Fiende 03:47
4. Trollhammaren 03:33
5. Nattfödd 04:51
6. Ursvamp 02:03
7. Marknadsvisan 02:00
8. Det Iskalla Trollblodet 03:54
9. Grottans Barn 04:37
10. Rök 02:23
Total playing time 36:30

February has Been an Epic Month

Eluveitie, Rotting Christ, Borknagar, Finntroll, Dark Tranquillity, Martriden, Burzum, Kawir, Whispered, Embryo, Shaolin Death Squad, De Profundis, Scythia, Daysend, Throes of Dawn, Jack Slater, Ov Hell, Nydvind, and Immolation have all released CD’s.

I’ll try to give you a one or two sentense preview of each one: Read more

Eluveitie – Everything Remains As It Never Was (2010) Review 9.8/10

Everything Remains As It Never Was is here! Eluveitie is playing some of their heaviest and most melodic music. After one listen I have placed this beside Spirit as my favorite Eluveitie album.

I’ll get my complaining out of the way Read more

2010 – Best of the New Year (So Far)

2010 is getting off to one hell of a start. January was pure insanity. Here are the ones to look for (IMO):

Ihsahn – After

Mother of God. This album is amazing. Vegard Sverre Tveitan keeps getting better. Now he is on an eight string guitar and the music is just madness.

Ihsahn is Read more

FUCKING ELUVEITIE!!!!!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=101305868

Go here now, or… lots of pain… LOTS of PAIN!

In case you are f***ing dumb and don’t know who the greatest Folk Metal band in the world is, this is them Eluveitie. This is their new single and video from their upcoming 2010 album “Everything remains (As It Never Was)”

Karlahan – A Portrait of Life (2009) Review: 10/10

Has anyone ever came up to you and said “Hey, wanna listen to some epicly symphonic thrashing melodic blackened orchestral folk-ish death metal?”. Well, with Karlahan, that is indeed the band that was used in the scenario mentioned.

Karlahan is a fairly new band being formed in 2006, and their debut album “A Portrait of Life” came to my eyes over at the Northern Warriors blog, and I decided to look into their music a little further. I had only seen a few comments saying that this album was perfect and great and so on, so I decided to see what made this so great… After hearing it, I decided it needed a proper review, ASAP.

The first line on the CD for the opening symphonic track was “The sounds you are about to experience were designed specifically to create a feeling of euphoria.” Now of course my first thought was that it would probably be a sort of lackluster slow paced opening intro… I was wrong. I closed my eyes about thirty seconds of the way in and just felt plain relaxed and limp in my chair, it was possibly one of the greatest symphonic pieces I have ever heard in my entire life. It made me wonder why this band had never come to my attention long before I found out about this album.

As the opening closed and it came on to the second track, all that energy I built up from relaxing turned into a big ass grin at the sound this band had. It wasn’t exactly pure black metal, thrash, symphonic, or anything of the sort. They incorporated a whole array of different styles in this CD. Not just the CD, but just a SONG. From trippy haunting solos that at the same time blend into the atmosphere and mix with everything else perfectly. Throughout the entire CD, Karlahan show true versatility working with different styles and sounds and bringing them together to create possibly some of the greatest metal ever made. (Purely opinion on that one, but DAMN it’s good.)

The men behind all of this great music is full of names you may not know now, but certainly enough in time you will. The line up right now consists of :

Toni Gonzalez – Vocals
Guillem Rejon – Guitar and Vocals
Jordi Bolibar – Guitar and Backing Vocals
Sergi Nuez – Bass
Aleix Valverde – Drums and Backing Vocals

I would say this album is probably one of the greatest listens I’ve had in a long while and I will be looking forward to their next album, and I wish the best to the band, hoping they get all the credit they deserve for this wonderful album. Normally I don’t really take people seriously when something is rated like this, but I really am seriously about to give this album a 10/10. This is a great show of talent and musicianship from a new band.

10/10

Klabautamann – Der Ort (2005) Audio Review: 9.8/10

9.8/10

Klabautamann is a folk black metal band from Germany. Tim Steffens and Florian Toyka   take care of the guitars and bass on the album and Partick Schröder was their studio drummer. Listen to the audio review for more.

[podcast]http://keepitmetal.com/audio/0002_klabautamann_der_ort_review.mp3[/podcast]

Klabautamann

Genre(s)

Black Metal, Folk Black Metal

Location

Germany Read more