Graveland bolts back and forth between its styles reflecting the composition of black metal, namely soundtracks plus cosmic ambient and underground metal. On Hour of Ragnarok, Graveland ditches the complex arrangements for sawing guitars and punk riffs worked into classic black metal themes.

Keyboards stitch anthemic themes over the top of guitars sawing out a basic melodic structure, taking a page from the book of Summoning, then intensity builds through layers of riff exploration, stripping back and then building up structure.

Themes take clearer and more distinctive roles than on some of the more “soundtracky” albums, and unlike most of metal now these songs appear to be about something, and not just riffs on the ideas of the past. For me however, this album rushes the listener with too much noise and not enough development.

Tags: Black Metal, graveland