How shall I describe this? Viking battle metal maybe? Well, let's just call it "war metal" and get it over with. If anything, conceptually this is nothing BUT war metal. Four songs that we have here are inspired by the battle for Dublin between the Celts and the Vikings.

The first track "Presage Of War" describes the gathering of the Celts. "The Raven Banner" recounts the stand-off between Celtic and Viking armies. Next, "Testing Of Steel" recreates the scene of the battle, while the title of the last track "Victory" is pretty self-explanatory.

Musically, this has nothing to do with black metal what so ever. Northcrown perhaps have more in common with someone like Einherjer and Storm. That is, if those two were stripped down to the lowest common denominator. The combination of trudging, a bit doomy riffs with an additional blend of acoustic guitars, accompanied by a drum machine and raspy recitatives is fairly primitive yet kind of fits the whole concept. It is pretty straightforward and simple on the one hand, but manages to exhibit some sense of loftiness and grandeur on the other, so that a more or less adequate atmosphere for the band's battle narratives is created.

Not that you should just drop everything that you are doing and immediately start searching for this demo. It is not worthy enough for that. But if you happen to come by it, do not be afraid to give it a spin.

© 2001 boris