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Rating:
9.2 |
King Of Asgard - Fi'mbulvintr 13 August 2010
01. Intro 02. Einhärjar 03. Vämods Tale 04. The Last Journey 05. Never Will You Know Of Flesh Again 06. Wrath Of The Gods 07. Snake Tongue 08. Brethren Of The North 09. Day Of Sorrow 10. Lingering A Sacred Ground 11. Heroes' Brigade 12. Strike Of The Hammer 13. Fi'mbulvintr (Outro)
Welcome to King Of Asgard's debut album Fi'mbulvintr! The first thing you will recognize while listening to this album is the influence of the now almost legendary band Amon Amarth. Both bands share the same style, namely some kind of viking melodic death metal compared with folk and black. One will hear the similiarities pretty soon, the catchy, tremolo ridden guitar riffs, the crushing drums, the obsessive bass and the harsh and dark vocals telling the Sagas of the Norsemen.
But ok, back to King Of Asgard and their debut. What you get here is a bunch of heavy, melodic and catchy songs. Right after the "Intro" your ears will be punished by the main riff of the opener "Einhärjar," for which the band recorded a video. This song is a beast when it comes to hard picked tremolo melodies and stays in the ear from the first listen. "Vämods Tale" follows and gives a complex, but still catchy chorus which seems to be directly taken from the old vikings.
The album consists of eleven great tales, framed with an intro and an outro, most of them are clocking around four to five minutes. It is hard to pick certain songs out of it because they all work greatly together and create a stunning atmosphere, but to name a few songs, we have "Brethren Of The North," which is driven by a yet very progressive riff and "Heroes' Brigade," a strong and brave ballad. All songs are only guitars, bass, drums and vocals, and it is really awesome what King Of Asgard do with this minimum of instruments. Karl Beckmann is the head of this band, he plays both lead and rhythm guitar and gilds this album with his vocals, grim and uncompromising. All members perform on this album simply perfectly, one can listen their experience and talent from the first note on. This can also be seen in the sound of the instruments, I especially love the drum sound on this record with its clear double-bass. Many guitar riffs are more of straightforward and easiness, but the way Karl Beckmann plays them makes them unique somehow!
So, to conclude again, Fi'mbulvintr is a must-have for all fans of Amon Amarth, this band really shows how to blow fresh air into styles that are said to be over and over repeated again. In my wisdom I would even prefer King Of Asgard in comparison to Amon Amarth, but this might be subjective. In a way the band manages to sound new, fresh and unique and they hopefully will continue with that. King Of Asgard have the potential to become a famous band, let's see how they will develop, the road is paved!
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Performance:
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10 |
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Songwriting:
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9 |
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Originality:
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8 |
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Production:
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9 |
written by Windrider | 07.12.2010 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
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Comments
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Users visited:
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| Great review. I got this album as soon as I saw the video for Einharjar; it blew me away. I agree that they definitely sound similar to Amon Amarth, especially with the viking themes. An awesome debut, can't wait for the next one. |
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Amazing album ... it's a shame not everyone knows the band, i'm sure if it goes a little mainstream the limit will be fcking hell!:devil:
top performance! |
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Great album!
Karsten Larrson is an incredible drummer! I hope we hear more from this band in the future. |
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