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Evil > Arktogäa > Reviews
Evil - Arktogäa

A southern quest for the vanished north - 81%

Pestbesmittad, June 22nd, 2007

The concepts of this release are based on Guido von List's theories about Arktogäa, a vanished polar continent. Musically “Arktogäa” is a solid piece of furious pagan black metal with quite strong Bilskirnir influences. The Bilskirnir influences can be explained by the fact that Widar of Bilskirnir was quite heavily involved in this release. He has contributed vocals and lyrics to two tracks, arranged one track and written the music for one track (however, this track is a synth piece).

But also the tracks written and performed entirely by Warlord himself sound pretty Bilskirnir influenced. The only track that could be said to be in the old Evil style is the opener “Oskorei”. With the exception of this track, Warlord has cast the harshest and most chaotic elements of his music aside and written some pretty well structured mid-tempo stuff instead. The primitiveness of the music is retained though, it’s just more controlled here. The sound has been cleaned up a bit, it’s not as fuzzy and messy as on many other Evil releases. However, don’t think that this means that the sound is very professional, it’s still a “too raw for you” thing for the majority of you. I think the somewhat better sound on this release does the material justice, as it allows for more heaviness. On “Wotan Redivivus” there is some clean guitar as well and this creates an almost epic touch to the song. At times the material also makes me think of Bathory’s Viking era but this is like a primordial underground version of Viking era Bathory, much more savage!

My biggest problem with this release is the fifth track, “Our Swords Will Rise Again”. It starts off really well with thundering drums and heavy riffs - only to end after 55 seconds!? Why not make a proper track, when the beginning is so promising? It just leaves the listener begging for more. The last track, “Galdr”, is the synth piece penned by Widar. It’s not bad and can be seen as an outro but I’d rather have listened to a metal track than this. “Arktogäa” is the most civilised (if such a term can used about this band) Evil release so far and probably the best one to check out first if you’re new to this band. Also Bilskirnir fans should check this release out.