Viking

I wanted to give this record 60, but I don't think that'd be fair. The thinking midway through the listen was that it was 3 star (out of 5), which would be 60, but then the last few tracks kicked in ...

So, to start things off, we have a frankly cheesy though tolerable intro track, which sets the tone of almost mediocrity. Things push on from there to bring a few reasonably pacey BM tracks. Production is thin, and the drum machine isn't great, but the guitar work is okay, and the vocals perhaps even qualify as good.

The record then slips into ambient gear, before moving onto the album highlight. Track 7 is mid paced, with good guitar work, and good use made of the aforementioned respectable vocals. There is a lot of Burzum about this track. To be honest, I didn't think there was about the earlier BM proper numbers, perhaps because they were too weak to deserve such a comparison.

The Burzumic trend then continues, and frankly oversteps the mark. Some of the later ambient tracks are cheesy, contrived and Burzum inspired to the point where Varg's arse must be itching because the one man in this band has his nose up it.

The 13 minute long 2nd to last track is just painful, drawn out filler, and thoroughly deserves to be pulled up for criticism here, and skipped if and when you play this record.

In my humble opinion, this bloke needs to broaden his horizons, and spend more time refining what he has.

I stumbled upon Wrath while looking at a flier for German label Einheit Produktionen. Being a fan of the label, I decided to check out Wrath, as the flier boasted Wrath was “True Germanic Black Metal”. However upon first listen to “Viking”, I was a little disappointed.

The album starts interestingly enough with the intro “Pagan Hordes”, which is a mix of war drums, strings, and horns. Then the metal kicks in with the track “Viking”. To me, Wrath’s style is very reminiscent of early Burzum and Bathory, sounding very raw and thrashy(even the vocals sound a lot like Varg Vikernes). The third song, “No Mercy” continues in this vein, and is followed by an ambient song “Spirits of Darkness”, consisting mostly of wind and nature sounds. The next song “Beasts of the Darkwoods”, goes back into the metal vein, but is a little more mid-paced than the previous metal tracks. The next song, “Grey Skies”, is a melancholy acoustic song, complete with howling wind and storm sound effects, and chanting clean vocals.

The next song, “The Forgotten Forest”, returns to the black metal vein with a slower, doomier approach. Sadly after this son, the album as a whole takes a turn for the worse. Not one of the remaining six songs is a metal song. Instead the rest of the songs alternate between folk or Viking sounding music, ambient songs, and acoustic interludes.

There are still a few good cuts among the remaining tracks. “Visions of Time” is another good triumphant sounding Viking song. “Germanic Tribes” is a very lush, beautiful acoustic song. “March of the Valkyrie” has some nice piano lines and effective percussion as well as symphonic elements. However songs like “Moonlit Forest Path”, and “Dreams of a Return” are a little boring in my opinion. The album reaches it’s low point with the 13+ minute ambient song “Whispers from the Ancients”, which is a droning mess of ambient noise, synth, and out of time ride cymbal pings.

I’ll give Nazgul(Wrath’s sole member) credit for attempting something creative and somewhat original, but I just don’t think you can have a black metal album where only four of the thirteen songs are black metal. “Viking is worth checking out if you are open minded about what you listen to, but those looking for a straight up old school black metal record should stay away.