Mythistory

Nigh pornographically heightened levels of paganistic pride run through this third album from Meerssen, Netherlands extreme thrashers Bifrost as they’d long carried and incensed a greater torch for the scholarly defiant legacy left behind by British classic thrash masters Sabbat. Conceived in 1992 with their sound additionally informed by Skyclad‘s early innovations as well as the growing legacy of Quorthon (Bathory) these Dutch fellows began with a fully formed atmospheric vision of thrash metal that expanded from their ‘Western Magick’ (1993) demo and only grew from there with the unique, comely rhythms of ‘Pagan Reality’ (1995). There is certain magic to be experienced within the band’s first two records as the band stayed true to their love of classic thrash metal while gaining influence from the progressive mentality of their idols. Black metal was mutating wildly by the day and pagan metal began to take on more serious forms across Europe and by the end of 1997 Bifrost had disbanded.

Vocalist Guido Heijnens focused on the full-time job of growing his now legendary Hammerheart Records label. The rest of the band took part in Viking themed semi-melodic death metal project Shadowbreed, who more or less resembled Ancient Rites‘ pre-keyboard dominated era. The band would largely reform under the name Conquered My Fears without guitarist Roger Hermans (then in Shadowbreed) and upon realizing that their reformation and new sound was basically Bifrost, they changed the name back and put out their third full-length ‘Mythistory’. If ‘The Wildest Fire’ (1997) felt a bit like it was influenced by the staccato technicality of progressive thrash metal then ‘Mythistory’ will appear as a far darker blackened thrash metal record with a heavy dose of the keyboards that were synonymous with symphonic black metal’s uprising at the time. Classic thrash metal heads who were on board for the weird-thrashing of first two albums will no doubt be alienated by the heavy use of synth/keyboards in the early stages of this album.

With about fifteen years in between first impressions and a healthy amount of time spent revisiting Bifrost I’ve generally come around in terms of ‘Mythistory’. Beyond the loud keyboards that jump in throughout the bulk of the record the guitar work feels even more orthodox, or at least simpler than previous. With a signature guitarist removed a focus on jogging, classic heavy metal rhythms stretched and twisted into previously unheard forms with some small resemblance to an early Varathron/Rotting Christ-like blackened epic heavy metal stomp but with that early thrash metal influence even more pronounced; The oddly loud keyboard work actually helps to accentuate this comparative sensation. If at any point in their career Bifrost were able to achieve their goal of toughening up the ‘soft’ progression of Skyclad beyond ‘The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth’ it may just as well have been ‘Mythistory’.

An oddly underground late 90’s pagan themed blackened (kinda symphonic) thrash record with just as much stylistic ‘interference’ as you’d expect from its mush of sub-genre specifics, ‘Mythistory’ was granted with truly unique personality that will absolutely only hold its weight with an ultra-specific crowd. Normally I would have just run right to ‘Pagan Reality’ and championed it easily but ‘Mythistory’ is a more challenging entry point and carries with it a brilliantly bold musical statement and a kicking warrior’s spirit that you won’t necessarily find outside of Quorthon‘s jagged thrash metal phase. Inspired performance and wild, ripping thrash rhythms easily trump fidelity and balance in many cases, so if you’re interested in an album that takes some concerted immersion this third and final full-length from Bifrost carries an ambitious, relatable spirit within.

Attribution: http://grizzlybutts.com/2018/10/09/retro-tuesdays-bifrost-mythistory-1998/

A friend of mine gave me the Bifrost discography some time in the early-00’s describing them as Sabbat (UK) worshippers; an accurate description although these Dutch paganers’ style is not exactly a blind emulation of the British legends’ music. Their repertoire also comprises shades of black, death (some of the band members previously tied to the melo-death stalwarts Callenish Circle) and folk metal (hello Skyclad!), and they cling more seriously towards the epic side of the spectre the latter developments giving the guys’ works a unique feel combined with the aggressive thrashing.

The debut was a major statement of intent, a multifarious opus with a wide gamut of influences covered, the thrash core enriched with various nuances the final result having an encompassing operatic flair not far from another British formation, Bal-Sagoth. The sophomore toned down the aggressive motifs to an extent, the band concentrating on the evocation of atmosphere with gothic, balladic, Oriental and orchestral elements peppering the retro thrashy foundation to a fairly positive effect again.

The album reviewed here is a more monolithic offering which comes the closest to the Sabbat, also early Skyclad, style. The lesser diversity produces admirable results, mind you, the guys focusing on the hard-hitting thrashing side, producing great pagan moshers like "The Gods' Lament" which assuredly spearheads this opus, looking at the magnanimous “Dreamweaver” for inspiration. An interesting presence of keyboards can be detected, this particular gimmick not so prominently featured earlier, used in a manner similar to the way Skyclad have epitomized the violin. They walk alongside the sharp guitars on a couple of tracks, more insistently on “"You Fear My Kind…”, and less obtrusively on the intense thrashing delight "All Creation Wept...". More surprises in stall later with the alluring piano tunes on the galloping power/thrasher "Soulbound Eternity", and with the brutal death metal veneer encountered on "The Dark Woodspirit" with the pagan flavour amazingly preserved amongst the vitriolic skirmishes the latter retained till the end with the overt pagan motif taking the upper hand, with a little help from the keyboards again, on the brilliant dreamy… sorry, dramatic thrashterpiece "Dreaming The Dark", a composition that would have made Sabbat very proud; the piano connection brought back briefly for the superb lyrical instrumental closure "Without Soulcontrol".

The album here was conceived during the brief period when the guys were operating under the Conquered My Fears moniker, before reverting back to their old name following a short split-up spell caused by some of the band members getting involved with the death metal outfit Shadowbreed. This didn’t impede the recording process in the Bifrost camp obviously as this swansong can pass for the band’s finest hour, a solid slab of pagan-induced old school thrash that reminded of the extinct British legends time and again in a really nice way, anticipating the return of the classic metal canons to the fore a few years later…

Only that our pagan heroes never took part in this bustling movement; they disbanded right at the dawn of this exciting campaign. The EP that posthumously came out in 2001 only contained two pieces one of which was a remastered version of an old song. And that was it; the interesting pagan saga came to a somewhat underwhelming end, leaving this chapter from metal history to write itself, without the musicians’ involvement. Said is the current reality without this unique pagan touch, but surely the time will come when it’s going to light the way again for all those who devotedly attend these clandestine sabbaths on these unbearably cold frosty nights…

I got this album used, along with a few others. I spent this week's grocery money on the CD's, hoping that the music would be worth starving for. Well, I can't say this has been worth starving for, but it is good.
I had never heard Bifrost before (or any of the other bands whose CDs I bought), and the intro on this CD made me think it was going to be a kind of cheesy power metal band. But then the next song kicked in and I thought "jolly thrashfabulous, ol' chap". It was rocking. The album is what I would describe as epic melodic thrash. Not usually what I find myself listening to, but a welcomed addition to my collection. The vocalist explores a few different styles of vocals throughout the album, which is a little diversity over the length of the album. The riffs are usually very good, as are the leads. The keyboards supply the more 'epic' feel, as well as the vocalist's dramatic spoken passages, all of which I do not much care for. But I suppose they are good, and well placed, adding an extra dimension to Mythistory.
Some of this reminds me of At the Gates (vocally), some reminds me of Goat of Mendes (the keyboard accompanied spoken parts), and the rest... doesn't really remind me of anything in particular. I think epic melodic thrash is the best way to describe this. Good pagan and mythologically based lyrics, as well. Not a boring album at all, but definitely not for anyone who doesn't like melodic, upbeat, or "epic" metal music. The more I listen to it, the more it grows on me.