Glory in Flames

Hailing from Poland, which seems fairly exclusive for true Viking metal, Norden have shot to my favourite list of Viking metal bands. "Glory in Flames," consisting of honest and inspirational themes of old Norse mythology and war, provides the reminiscent compositions of traditional metal relevant to these themes.

This line-up is particularly disproportionate to one another, being that the drummer is technically more experienced and fluent than the others in this effort. However, with their magnificent blend of solid riffs and accenting drums, honest vocals and an all-round instrumental comradeship, this record is worth its ever penny.
The atmosphere itself is an epic one, committed by Northflame on keyboards, and melodic riffs awash with supremely appropriate reverb. Production-wise, this album is not particularly that thrilling, but all loss of elite sound production is compensated by the composite works of every track present on this superb album.
The elements of Folk/Viking in this album are not as particularly prominent as is the Pagan element of it. Although this album is not categorised as such, the element of Pagan is far more outstanding than the such categories that this band falls under. The mood set by this album is a lot more dark and melancholic than it is self-empowering or thrilling in any sense, but Norden musically and instrumentally execute it in a sufficiently impressive way. This is one of the reasons that this album has become one of my favourites.

As previously said, however restated, this album is inherently raw and honest, and is not painted with incessant wankery or unnecessary digressions. Being that I have escaped from that overwhelmingly retarded aspect of cybernotically-fast metal that bores one very quickly, it's always relaxing to be presented with an album that is not jam-packed full of such wankery. This is why I reside this honest style, and this raw sound.

In conclusion, you need this damn album. If you're a fan of raw Pagan/Viking metal or raw Melodic Black metal, this is for you.
Outstanding.
90/100