Angry Metal Guy

Solefald // Norrøn Livskunst
Rating: 5.0/5.0 — Fuck yes.
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: solefald.no
Release Dates: EU: 15.11.2010 | US: Unknown

Solefald is just a cool band and they have been for a long time. I first got into their stuff with the epic Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey which came out in 2005 and that record has maintained a standard place in my discography because of its amazing blending of black metal, progressive metal and rock and unique Norse sounds. While I was not equally as impressed with Black for Death and I’ve been a bit hit or miss on some of the band’s older material, I’ve always appreciated the band’s unique approach to the music they produce and their intensely creative outputs. Nothing they have put out has really disappointed me, it’s just a matter of being more or less into it. Continue reading

Enslaved // Axioma Ethica Odini
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Great, but a bit forced…
Label: Indie Recordings (EU) | Nuclear Blast (US)
Websites: enslaved.no
Release Dates: EU: 27.09.2010 | US: 09.28.2010

It is not hard to accept one fundamental axiom of the post-black metal Norway that I have referred to recently: Enslaved is easily Norway’s finest band. From the beginning the band has always been strong; grown-ups in a room filled with angry teenagers. This sense has not lessened with the passage of time. While certain members of the scene will forever be singing their equivalent of Alice Cooper ridiculous teen hits as 45 year olds (or older, like the man himself), Enslaved will continue to push the boundaries of black metal with a mature and progressive sound. Starting with the release of Below the Lights in 2003, Enslaved has produced four modern classics of “progressive, psychedelic black metal.” The fourth of this string of amazing albums was Vertebrae, which was released in 2008 and landed the band a tour with Opeth as well as more recognition than they had ever received worldwide. And with good reason: it was the best record the band had written to date. Continue reading

Winterhorde // Underwatermoon
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Forward thinking symphonic black metal?
Label: Twilight-Vertrieb
Websites: winterhorde.com | myspace.com/winterhorde
Release Dates: Out Now! (July, 2010)

It isn’t often these days that I review something that I found on my own. In fact, given that the amount of time that we here at Angry Metal Guy for reviews has gone down immensely compared to the huge numbers of promos we receive, it’s probably irresponsible for me to do so. But this Angry Metal Guy is always worried that we’re still not getting every CD of golden worth and highest quality. Once again this fear has been vindicated—but fortunately for you guys, I still love metal enough that I actually go looking for shit that we haven’t received here. And because of that, I stumbled upon Winterhorde a melodic or orchestral black metal band from… Israel? Yeah, turns out, even Israel which lacks for snowy winters has black metal guys who think that snow is the ultimate eviiiil. But don’t let the silly name fool you, because Winterhorde is not just your average melodic black metal band and Underwatermoon, while excitingly ESL in name, is anything but lackluster. Continue reading

Borknagar // Universal
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Very good, feels unfocused at times and its definitely a grower..
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: myspace.com/borknagar
Release Dates: EU: 22.02.2010 | US. 03.02.2010

Borknagar is a class act and has been for a long time. Reaching all the way back to their first, self-titled release, this band has separated itself from the herd by being just plain more interesting and unique. Eventually they just separated themselves from the modern black metal scene altogether, heading towards more progressive pastures. Universal continues a trend away from the raw and simple towards the highly complex, dynamic and progressive—but the question is whether or not the band’s fans and general public will want to follow the band in this direction. Well, and whether or not where the band is leading is somewhere worth going.

Make no mistake about it Borknagar is a seriously talented and fantastic band. Even with the departure of longtime drummer Asgeir Mickelson, the band didn’t miss a beat (oh, hahahaha, I’m so funny) when they picked up American drummer David Kinkade who performs admirably while filling some of metal’s biggest drumming shoes. Vintersorg sounds fantastic as well, though he’s mixed quite far back on this record, more so than on previous albums. On a close listen, Universal is a record of incredible layers. All of the instruments are painting complex, elaborate, detailed and beautiful portraits which come together sometimes to create a grand tapestry of sound.

Unfortunately, all this epicness and detailed playing also leads to what I see as the biggest problem from which this record suffers: a lack of focus. While every song on the record has shining moments of beauty and clarity, Universal seems messy and hard to follow at times. Intros to tracks can feel like total non sequiturs when the verse actually starts, (see: “For A Thousand Years to Come”) or sometimes the instruments seemingly clash with each other instead of working together to create beautiful chords and harmonies. Particularly in my normal speakers, I found myself just wandering off mentally when this record started overload my ears with information that seemingly clashed. However, a deeper listen with earphones helped me see through this sort of foggy mix (metaphorically speaking) and helped me come to a better understanding of these tracks.

And let me say: there are some really strong tracks on this album. The opener, “Havoc” is sort of your standard Borknagar opener, but it has done its job and stuck in my head. “My Domain” which features a guest appearance from Simen Hestnæs is another track that stands out for its epic build, particularly to the end of the song and stands as a reminder of what a fantastic vocalist Simen really is (and what Dimmu Borgir lost). “Abrasian Tide” is probably the most reminiscent of Quintessence and Empiricism on the whole record, and it’s just a solid track from start to finish. But my personal favorite track on the album is probably “Fleshflower” which, while quite short by metal standards, features a fantastic neo-classical kind of melody and some really convincing vocal performances. All of these awesome tracks point me to the same conclusion, when the band stays focused, they are able to produce epic, fascinating and powerful tracks. The big problem is when they let their progressive urges get ahead of themselves and the tracks start to wander.

Of course, the above tracks are not the only ones on the album I like. Every song on here has stand out moments, but I still do feel like I just get lost at some points and really, this is the first album by Borknagar where I’m able to say that. I admittedly had some issues with Epic at times, but even that one I felt like had a lot more good than bad and I can honestly say that I never had to work at liking that record. Universal, on the other hand, is a record that I have put a ton of effort into dissecting and trying to enjoy because of the high regard I hold this band in. While in the end I still think that this is a pretty good record, it certainly didn’t manage to live up to my expectations and had I not been forced to write a cogent review of it, I don’t know whether or not I would have given it more than just a couple listens.

To unfortunate disagreement with some of my friends, I was a huge fan of Enslaved‘s Vertebrae, a record I think may actually be their best ever. In any case, that means that I am waiting in avid anticipation for a new Enslaved record, which was announced to little fanfare on the band’s MySpace page yesterday by Ivar Bjørnson.

Hello there. This is a short blog from the studio; where we – Enslaved – have started to record our new album yesterday. We are doing the drums in Duper Studios here in Bergen – this time around we are recording everything in our hometown, something we last did with Isa. Iver Sandøy (Trinacria, Manngard, Emmerhoff & T.M.B.) is engineering the drum recording; and we feel we are in very good hands. The remaining instruments will be recorded in Herbrand and Ice Dale’s Earshot Studio, with a few small exceptions done in Peersonal Sound (my own studio). We’re starting off as we always do; with me and Cato going in first. The session started out beautifully with the perfect starting point for the drum sound and the first song being laid down by Cato. This song is a musical and lyrical contemplation on a rune – one associated with travel… We’ll get back to more on the songs later!

After Vertebrae it has been a hectic period, with shows, tours and everything that is going on around the band. Yet it has been a remarkably self-energizing process making this new album. For starters, the dynamics have never been better, both literally in the music – and metaphorically, meaning the working climate within the band. Writing music is rewarding when you know the other members will take your ideas seriously and give everything they’ve got to make the best out of every single idea. The amazing feedback we’ve gotten after Vertebrae hasn’t exactly made us more modest; we picked up some very valuable confidence from that. A third pillar of inspiration is the continuing ideological struggle against the dogmas: political, monotheistic, moral dogmas that keep getting a stronger and stronger chokehold on man. Some dangers are growing while others are on the rebound (for now). Enslaved is an ongoing project to channel alternative currents; resistance to those trying to force-fit the mind into the tiny squares of one-doms and tyrannies.

After all that hot air, I’ve asked Cato to provide some thoughts on the new material and the recording process:

“Hi there! We started yesterday to set the sound, and from there on the drums for two songs were nailed. Today, on the second day, we started at noon and worked our way through three more songs. Iver is very easy (to work with) and we are really getting payback for the work put in advance of the recording. I am in other words getting close to finishing my part of the album, and that’s fine by me-I would climb the walls if the whole session would take anything more than a week. The songs are, like always, pretty varied both in mood, speed and style. The cool thing is that none of us actually don’t know how it’s gonna turn out in the very end. What ideas Ice Dale has for guitar solos only he knows.
-Cato”

There’s a long journey ahead before the release, we’ll try and keep you posted on how it is coming along; including information about album title, track names, artwork, dates etc.

On the turning-away,

Ivar & Enslaved

So, that’s fucking awesome, innit?