Taake - Noregs Vaapen (2011)

Since his '99 debut full-length, 'Nattestid Ser Porten Vid,' Taake mastermind, Ørjan "Hoest" Stedjeberg has made a habit of releasing a new album every three years. Therefore, sixteen years into his career in 2011 we find Hoest unleashing the fifth Taake album, 'Noregs Vaapen.' With the past four being nothing short of black metal excellence and absolutely mandatory records in my book, let's see how his latest creation sits among these older beasts.

Taake releases have often had the the habit of blending dissonant tremolo styled black metal riffs with more classic and catchy styled heavy metal riffs, often times with varying tempos and even some unexpected characteristics. The seven songs on Noregs Vaapen are surely no exception either, save for maybe the fact that I find this to be his most catchiest record to date and also one of his most headbangable ones too. The first two songs, 'Fra vadested til vaandesmed' & 'Orkan' are in a way vintage Taake all the way with a total barrage of rockin' black metal riffs that would bring any Darkthrone or Celtic Frost fan to their knees, although Hoest's compositions skills are as ever, superb and he just always knows when to slow the music down or speed it up or for example in the case of the first song to insert a brief synth melody over the ensuing chaos. What I'm trying to say is that the influences can be obvious sometimes, but by no means does Taake ever sound like their worshiping another band.

'Nordbundet' & 'Du ville ville Vestland' greatly vary in tempo from the earlier songs and have some supreme leads, impressive riffs, killer solos and once again quite a few catchy parts to boot. 'Myr' is a real standout and is an example of the unexpected characteristics I mentioned earlier as a freakin' banjo makes an appearance towards the end and how he made this sound so fucking awesome is beyond me, but its beyond cool. 'Helvetesmakt' seems to have a more despondent aura around most of it and once again the odd appearance of a mandolin towards the end followed by some odd chanting and then concluded with a solid heavy riff for the remaining duration is brilliant. At a little over ten minutes, 'Dei vil alltid klaga og kyta' closes out the album perfectly with just about everything that makes Taake so great and save for the odd instruments mentioned earlier this one has just what you'd expect to be in it.

This record also invites nine individuals to Hoest's side, most notably; Nocturno Culto (Darkthrone), Attila Csihar (Mayhem) and Demonaz (Immortal) who all contribute guest vocals, as well a few lesser known talents handle vocal and guitar leads too, especially someone named, Gjermund Fredheim who handles the lead guitar on various tracks as well being responsible for the banjo and mandolin work.

In the end, 'Noregs Vaapen' is memorably loaded with rockin' headbanging riffs, some cool solos, intense and insane varied vocals, diverse song structures, various tempos, odd instruments and all the while its an absolute black metal record all the way. Hoest could very well be one of the best song writers to emerge from the Norwegian black metal scene and five albums in I'd say this chap is not about to let anyone down. Therefore, much like those previous four albums, this one lives up to the Taake legacy and as such its once again an absolute must hear recording for black metal fans.