The album is the third part in a trilogy of albums about the vikings, and when looking at the band’s official website I can see that this band has a few albums in their catalogue. That is interesting since I have not heard about this band before I got a note about the fact that the EP was available in the promo download place. So what about this band?
There are certain Grave Digger parallels and for sure that suspicion is correct as the sound is rather similar to that of Grave Digger with heavy, powerful metal with raspy vocals and some classical undertones. Lulis traces can be found throughout the music of course, i suspect he has the most influence when it comes to the sound of this record.
I am caught from the first track on both EP and album, the title track on the EP and a song called War on the album, both of those are great ways of bringing the listener into the music and then keeping the listener for the remainder. Other great tracks are My Blood in Snow on the EP and Odin along with ending Einherjar. Funny thing is that it is the non-album tracks that are the best of the EP, Arise and Ragnarök are the album tracks on the EP and those are not any standout tracks.
When I am looking at the quality of the album and EP I find that they are good and the experience of the band makes a strong case for these releases. I find myself singing along to some tracks and intensively listening to others, there are some not quite so interesting tracks that fill up the record but I don’t see that as much of a problem. I hold the EP in slightly higher regard than the album much because it is shorter that the Album. I think this album fails a little mostly due to the theme which is not very interesting, vikings and their gods really cannot capture my interest.
Another thing I notice is that the song titles of the record all consist of just one word which is a bit odd but not really something that effects the quality of the record but it is a fun fact.
In the end though I find this record very good with some really good tracks and some not so interesting as well. I find these releases both EP and album good addition to a record collection, especially one where Grave Digger or Rage are present.
So if you care for Vikings trilogies and not only Hägar The Horrible Viking I can recommend this record, if you are the Hägar type like me I guess you will like it and very much like some bits of it. It is a good record no doubt about that.
Miklagard from the previous album
HHHHHHH
Band:
Michael Seifert – Vocals
Uwe Lulis – Guitar
Simone Wenzel – Guitar
Tomi Göttlich – Bass
Gerd Lücking – Drums
Discography:
A Tragedy In Steel (2002)
Born A Rebel (2003)
Sagas of Iceland - The History of the Vikings - Volume I (2005)
Miklagard - The History of the Vikings - Volume II (2007)
Released 07/24/2009 & 06/26/2009
Reviewed 08/19/2009
Links:
rebellion.st
myspace
Youtube
massacre