The dice gods that randomly determine my next review have once again chosen from the Ross Records (a selection of music obtained from my friend Ross when he divested his CD collection).
Also, since we’re now at Disc 1972, let’s continue or whimsical journey of exploring records from the year that matches! Here are three great ones.
- Black Sabbath, “Vol. IV” (Disc 6)
- Gordon Lightfoot, “Don Quixote” (Disc 110)
- Neil Young, “Harvest” (Disc 1877)
Two of those reviews are so old I wasn’t yet doing “What’s Up With the Cover?”
Disc 1972 is…Norwegian Native Art
Artist: Einherjer
Year of Release: 2000
What’s up with the Cover? Of note, my cover for this record is the 2005 re-issue. The original had a picture of the band looking like a bunch of undead creeps. This cover is the same, except it is a different picture of them as undead creeps.
Of course, this could just be depicting the band as actual “einherjer” the warriors that get to go to Valhalla after dying in battle. We always assume that being einherjer means you get to look all youthful in life, probably with your armour all shined up and your best fur cloak. Imagine the disappointment of these guys to find out that bleeding head wound is how you are now.
Or maybe these poor souls are Vikings that died of disease or old age or choking on a chicken bone. In any of those situations you don’t get Valhalla, you instead go abide with Hel down in Niflheim. It’s dreary and grey there, and there’s no central heating like in Odin’s Hall, but on the plus side you don’t have to spend every day of eternity fighting one another. That shit would get old quick.
How I Came To Know It: I obtained a clutch of Einherjer albums from my buddy Ross when he parted with his CD collection and gave me first pick. I ended up with four of their albums, and like them all.
How It Stacks Up: As noted, I have four Einherjer albums. Of those, “Norwegian Native Art” comes in third.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
“Norwegian Native Art” is a dark record, with a whole lot of underworld and suffering. Odin’s spear wound as he seeks the knowledge of runes, a horror filled visit to the aforementioned land of Hel, and even the burning of Yggdrasil, the world tree (prime suspect: fire giant and known arsonist Surtr).
Heavy topics, but fortunately Einherjer are plenty heavy enough to meet these tales with some heaviness of their own, doubling down on thump and crunch that goes with songs about the afterworld, the end of the world, and sometimes both.
Einherjer’s brand of metal is a mix of traditional metal, some black metal and folk structures peppered throughout, as you might expect from the record’s title. They also venture to add no small amount of synthy organ sounds. This should not work, but it does, adding a symphonic element that balances nicely against the crunch of double guitar and the crash of drums.
There are songs where the symphonic elements are a bit heavy handed (notably “Crimson Rain” which can’t seem to match its soar with its plod), but these moments are rare and usually the mix of styles is well apportioned.
Lead vocals on Einherjer go through a few iterations across their career, and on this record we have lost Rune Bjelland but still not fully turned to Frode Glesnes. Lead vocals are listed as Ragnar Vikse, who occupies a strong space between death growl (more of a rasp here than the full growl) and a metal-infused folk vocal. Vikse and Glesnes do a bit of call and answer here and there and the two slightly different, but complementary styles are well matched to the middle ground the album occupies in metal’s many worlds.
The record’s opener, “Wyrd of the Dead” is as good as this style of music gets, with a powerful invocation of Odin in his darkest moments, hanging impaled on a spear seeking wisdom. With its deliberate rhythm and double guitar crunch, the song’s construction would serve well as marching music to a Dwarven army. If Odin’s your thing, then this is your song.
Other songs, like “Hugin’s Eyes” showcase drummer Gerhard Storesund, who has a nice mix of an old school dull thump reminiscent of Bill Ward as well as the more modern approaches like double bass, both blended nicely in a single song as the band bounces from unbounded fury to a more sedate guitar riff suitable for throwing your neck out to in the mosh pit.
Ere the end Einherjer drops a chill out track with “Regicide”, which features a guest duet with fellow Norwegian Hanne Andersen. This tune is a bit phantom of the opera with all the synth for my liking, but Andersen’s vocals (sung not growled) are a well-timed palate cleanser after all the stabbing and burning.
While the front half of “Norwegian Native Art” is better than the back, the whole record is solid and a worthy entry in the discography of a band that – other than being really into Viking folklore – refuses to be defined by genre or external expectation. That’s a good way to approach all art, Norwegian or otherwise.
Best tracks: Wyrd of the Dead, Hugin’s Eyes, Burning Yggdrasil
No comments:
Post a Comment