Mellom skogkledde aaser

Yes, you're reading this correctly… after nearly 70 reviews of purely death metal, it's time I come out and say that my extreme metal addiction has recently spilled over into black metal. I started listening to black metal not too long after I first listened to death metal, but it admittedly took me a much longer time to appreciate black metal.

One of the first albums I gave a listen to and has helped me get into the genre more than most other albums is undoubtedly Kampfar's debut, "Mellom Skogkledde Aaser," released in 1997. This album, man… this is how I wish all black metal was. It's epic, it's heavy, it's got a great atmosphere and aesthetic, and the production is perfect. It's a great package all around, and I'm surprised that they haven't received nearly as much attention as clearly less quality bands such as Dimmu Borgir. This is pure, unfiltered, raw Scandinavian black metal at its finest.

The most noticeable aspect of this album is the production. I'm a huge fan of the fact that the bass isn't completely drowned out, and everything is raw, yet listenable and easy to digest. I've grown more accustomed to production on albums like Ulver's "Nattferd" and Mutiilation's "Vampires…" but this is definitely a much more preferable sound. The riffs are melodic, heroic and, at times, downright heavy. I find myself headbanging a lot more to this than most records of its type. It's super gritty, and definitely has a huge focus on atmosphere, but they never let that detract from the heaviness.

I also love the vocals on this record. Dolk has some incredibly tortured wails on this album that bring out a lot of character and emotion and feel like the war cry of a deranged maniac from the Viking days of humanity. I also appreciate that the drumming isn't from a drum machine, which is what has kept from fully enjoying albums like Summoning's "Minas Morgul." These drums make it feel organic and less sterile, which is what black metal needs more than death metal, if you ask me.

If you haven't listened to this album and you love black metal… what on Earth are you doing? This album kicks so much ass, it's ridiculous. It's tight and fun but also raw and a truly unique experience that has kept me captivated years and made me love this wretched genre of music. Long live Kampfar!

Kampfar deserves some acknowledgement in being responsible for helping form traditional folk-inspired “Black Metal” in the mid-nineties and while perhaps not kick-starting the band’s meteoric rise to the genre’s most legendary halls, Mellom Skogkledde Aaser does debut a timeless sound that remains uniquely poised and especially true to the “Pagan” scene. Employing much of the fiery antagonistic aggression one would expect from an authentic effort of the genre, Kampfar goes on to boast a folky “Norse rock” kicker and in augmenting a blackened Norwegian scene slots rightfully into place at the backend of “Black Metal’s” second wave. As with any prospect of this most fertile era in history, a bar-setting debut is simply an expected piece of the puzzle. And so, years following their ’94 EP, here we have, in all its masterful “Pagan” charm, a debut that tests the boundaries between “Folk Metal” and what may be deemed albeit optimistically pure untainted “Black Metal”. Mellom Skogkledde Aaser, rich in the sheer infectiousness of honest and simple melodic overtones, exemplifies rustic “Pagan Metal” ideology at its very best.

Yet it comes as no surprise that the record itself, and, so, the legacy of Kampfar, begins with something as brash as a barrage of vile shrieks. But while not setting the necessary tone for an impactful album, this guttural additive is not only effectively reprised – offering a trinket-like quality versus other more traditional sounding folk-inspired works – but is microcosmic of the band’s underlying approach. How riffs are linked with apparent ease without interlude, idiosyncrasies in the hellish tapering of vocals into a grim, despondent wail; all indicative of a strong blackened sound that offers something just a little extra in terms of feel and overall musicianship – something warranted of a “Pagan” band in which a folkloric theme is central. For example, the album’s taciturn nature does not preclude a very apparent presence of progressiveness; a feature easily spotted in tracks like Valdogg that sift through both heavy-driven sections as well as laxer, deeper melodies while, in support, well-crafted rhythms juggling stoutly simple beats, hearty blastbeats, and double-kick-driven passages provide great rhythmic substance to the album’s vast aesthetic sound.

Other vital tracks like Valgalderkvad and Hymne notably form the spine of the album featuring more conspicuous climaxes (unfortunately this proves somewhat a schlep to come across throughout) and epic atmospheres. The intro of the former portrays the depiction in the sleeve art effectively – what is that, an accordion? – a short-lived tranquil tune that is quickly lain to rest by a salvo of gut-wrenching blast-happy brutality. This track in particular wields a Pagan-backed arsenal like sonorous vocal splits, climbing bass lines, and a seemingly indiscernible arrangement of obscure instrumentation. Beyond its unforgiving nature, orchestration and musicianship are truly central in Mellom Skogkledde Aaser, its cold demeanor a manifestation of the backgrounds of the duo featured in this ameliorated “Black Metal” sound. What results is pure and true and should be of especial interest to those seeking a slower-paced and more spacious blackened experience. In short, functional “Black” and “Folk” riff fusions, liberal use of chants and clean vocal accompaniments, no sustained use of blastbeats or thrash-style drumming and lyrical content inspired at large by Norse mythology is choicest “Pagan Metal” material. A gem and benchmark for extreme metal fusion.

This album is really something. I could go as far as to say it’s perfect . It encompasses pretty much everything you want in black metal, without any of the vices. and adds enough folky bits to make it intersting, while staying predominently black metal. Even though I got this album awhile ago, I still find myself coming back to it and listening to it. It is very hard to get tired of, and I find myself comparing albums to it all the time. For me, it really is the top standard.

It gets the production directly on the dot, for starters. It’s raw enough that you get that proper black metal feel, but it’s just clean enough so that you can hear all the instruments and the vocals clearly. It all sticks together nicely so that there’s little clash without destroying that chaotic feel. Instrumentally, it has some odd tendencies to it. It isn’t really folk metal, but it will have these breaks where it will slow down and it will just be Chellos and vocals, or some sort of obscure instrument more associated with classical music. It will be very atmospheric with pagan tones, then break into blistering, fast black metal riffs or a marching, Viking bit stampede. The guitar ranges from depressing and melodic riffs to pure evil, head banging pieces that could rile anyone up. The vocals are your standard black metal kind, scathing and tortured, but the vocalist actually manages to be fluent, I can hear the words he is saying instead of them being heavy screeche! s, inaudible to my sense. Although, they will also break into some Viking chants in a couple of songs that really add to the pagan atmosphere.

The only vice I can really go onto say about this is that all the lyrics are in Norwegian, so non-Norwegians won’t be able to understand it, which is a shame because the vocals are very much black metal, but coherent as well. Suffice to say, in all honesty it just adds to the Viking/Pagan feel that the whole album encompasses and to be honest, I have hard time understanding black metal vocalists anyway.

So, if you want a Pagan/Viking album, but love black metal and can’t take too much folk, go for this, because you will not regret it and it will have everything you are looking for in both black metal chaos, and pagan solemn.

Kampfar is one of the best, if not THE best, viking pagan metal bands and to prove that statement true nothing better than just listening to this album.

With Mellom Skogkledde Aaser the viking spirit is represented at high quality levels.

There are screams as the intro, then you can hear the guitars and the bass adding an extreme viking atmosphere since as the riffs keep changing denoting movement the bass guitar keeps marking one note picturing the background for guitars and lyrics together. These elements are also common in minimalistical bands such as Darkthrone, Ulver (granted... the old stuff), old Satyricon; but in this case, KAMPFAR adds an extra viking dose to chill your blood and get you spellbound even if viking metal isn't your style.

The drum work is not bad at all, while the guitars are simply great when accompanied by the bass. Dolk's voice is one of my favorite voices in the scene, it's harsh yet not screechy.

Although it's realy hard to decide for the best song the one I think I like the most is Hymne. It starts with viking chants and switches rhythms all throughout its length, first it's slow, then gets fast and then even faster till it reaches its climax and then you get the viking chants to close the song, this time longer than at the beginning.

This album is my favorite album by KAMPFAR, not only for its length, but also for its thematics, the musical concept and the performance in general. I think this is when Kampfar really reached their potential.

After the coming to light of this album, KAMPFAR will have to make a big effort to surpass the excellence they reached in this feature. In other words, with Mellom Skogkledde Aaser KAMPFAR raised the bar to high, not only for themselves but also for the whole genre.