Enslaved
Eld
[Osmose]
A mediocre disc from the godfathers of what they like to call ‘Viking Metal’. Well, the entire CD has a ‘Viking’ sort of feel to it, from the lyrics, to the imagery they use (I’ll cover the music later)… but one thing I noticed about these ‘Viking’ bands is that they have a tendency to go overboard with this entire ‘Viking’ thing and sometimes end up looking like idiots. That would be the case here, as the band pictures are ridiculous and the comments they make to magazines and interviewers and the like are also hilarious in their utter stupidity.
Musically this band isn’t much. The riffs are simple and just repeat themselves over and over again and the drums have a laughably tight sound, it’s funny that even though the drums are *played* pretty good they sound like crap. What’s more, everything is done with one guitar, resulting in a thinner and less powerful sound… not the type of sound a ‘Viking’ Metal band should try to aim for, at least in my opinion. The singing is typical Black Metal and quite high-pitched, once again, not the type of sound a ‘Viking’ band should try to aim for (but probably quite good for Black Metal!); don’t get me wrong, I never said that the vocals were bad (quite the opposite in fact), but the vocal style isn’t entirely fitting for a ‘Viking Metal’ band. They do, however, have a lot of clean singing parts that are done nicely and add to the ‘Viking’ feel of the disc. The lyrics are, of course, about Vikings and Norse myth and are all sung in Norwegian, but are translated into English inside the CDs booklet as well. Most of the lyrics are cryptic, based off of Norse Myth that I know little about, but I’m glad they took the time and effort to translate it, as a lot of other bands wouldn’t have been so considerate. The production of this CD is very thin and harsh, like the guitar and drum sound (!), but the production is relatively good… I just don’t think that a sound like that fits a ‘Viking Metal’ band at all. The ‘Viking’ influence on the music is very small (a few ambient parts is all…) and this band’s material on this CD sounds just like typical Black Metal. If you want a *real* Viking Metal CD go buy Einherjer's ‘Dragons of the North’ or Mithotyn's ‘King of the Distant Forest’ as the music on this CD has little to do with ‘Viking Metal’.
Pros: Good singing (both clear and harsh), good drumming
Cons: Bad sound (both guitars and drums), almost no Viking influence on the music, cryptic lyrics
Will Likely Appeal to: Fans of the band
© 2000 sauron anarazel
Musically this band isn’t much. The riffs are simple and just repeat themselves over and over again and the drums have a laughably tight sound, it’s funny that even though the drums are *played* pretty good they sound like crap. What’s more, everything is done with one guitar, resulting in a thinner and less powerful sound… not the type of sound a ‘Viking’ Metal band should try to aim for, at least in my opinion. The singing is typical Black Metal and quite high-pitched, once again, not the type of sound a ‘Viking’ band should try to aim for (but probably quite good for Black Metal!); don’t get me wrong, I never said that the vocals were bad (quite the opposite in fact), but the vocal style isn’t entirely fitting for a ‘Viking Metal’ band. They do, however, have a lot of clean singing parts that are done nicely and add to the ‘Viking’ feel of the disc. The lyrics are, of course, about Vikings and Norse myth and are all sung in Norwegian, but are translated into English inside the CDs booklet as well. Most of the lyrics are cryptic, based off of Norse Myth that I know little about, but I’m glad they took the time and effort to translate it, as a lot of other bands wouldn’t have been so considerate. The production of this CD is very thin and harsh, like the guitar and drum sound (!), but the production is relatively good… I just don’t think that a sound like that fits a ‘Viking Metal’ band at all. The ‘Viking’ influence on the music is very small (a few ambient parts is all…) and this band’s material on this CD sounds just like typical Black Metal. If you want a *real* Viking Metal CD go buy Einherjer's ‘Dragons of the North’ or Mithotyn's ‘King of the Distant Forest’ as the music on this CD has little to do with ‘Viking Metal’.
Pros: Good singing (both clear and harsh), good drumming
Cons: Bad sound (both guitars and drums), almost no Viking influence on the music, cryptic lyrics
Will Likely Appeal to: Fans of the band
© 2000 sauron anarazel