Nodding Sky - For Those Left Behind (2011)

The story of Turku, Finland based band, Nodding Sky is similar to that of many other band tales out there - Friends drinking, discussing music, probably laughing and having a good time, maybe a few too many drinks later and before long five friends are jamming together. It's happened before, it happened here and it will happen again, although few bands will come up with something as brilliant as this bands debut EP, 'For Those Left Behind.'

This four track thirty three minute EP shows a great deal of promise and influences from various sub-genres to form something that's mid-tempo in speed, quite melodic in character with progressive, acoustic and doom tendencies. It's a bit hard to pinpoint exactly, but I think these guys share influences from bands like; Amorphis, Sentenced, Insomnium and, well, needless to say their fellow Finnish brethren.

'For Those Left Behind' kicks off the EP with an instantly catchy folky melodic lead riff that at least for me had me banging my head instantly, eventually it leads into some quite well performed clean vocals. From there the songs intensity seems to pick up as some screamed vocals enter, although the song shifts back to mellower tones and back quite frequently. At almost nine minutes the song features a plethora of meaty head bobbing riffs, occasional acoustic breaks, heavy audible bass, brilliant drumming, well performed vocals and an immense drive and progressive sense of direction, which makes every last second enjoyable.

Opening with the sounds of wind blowing and acoustic guitars strumming, 'Murheen saarnamies' carries a more depressive tone along with it. As made obvious by the title, this one is in Finnish and much like the first song has a fair trade off of clean and growled vocals, likewise some acoustic breaks are found as well as plenty of cool riffs and similarly progressive structure, though slower in speed with some definite doom elements. 'We Are Losing Her (Until All the Light Is Gone)' once again follows a similar structure as the first two songs, though I find that it has some of that energetic vibe from the first song mixed with the doomy parts of the second. At last the EP closes with an acoustic reprise of, 'Murheen saarnamies,' which is interestingly more than just a simple return to this song, but in fact its a whole new take on the song and hearing it done entirely acoustic with some synth enrichment actually sounds oddly even better than the metalized version.

Nodding Sky is off to a grand start with, 'For Those Left Behind' and since they released this EP independently I'm quite sure it wont be long before they are signed. Impressively the EP comes as a digipak, as well the production of the recording is top notch and even the envelope the band sent me the EP in bared the bands logo, which to me just shows that the band is hungry and ready to spread their music world round with this professional approach.

For the curious you can probably still buy this EP by contacting the band (noddingsky[ä]gmail-dot-com) or you can download it for free at their last.fm profile.

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.

Behexen - My Soul for his Glory (2008)

As another one of the earliest black metal bands to arise out of Finland, Behexen (originally, Lords of the Left Hand) have to this day released nothing but stunning records. Not nearly as productive as their brethren in Satanic Warmaster or Horna, Behexen seems to concentrate on quality over quantity, and here on their most recent and third full-length, 'My Soul for his Glory' they demonstrate what Satanic black metal personification is all about.

While their early creations, 'Rituale Satanum' & 'By the Blessing of Satan' are superb records I find myself actually enjoying this one more so. If it sounds odd to you then so be it, but I find a lot of this album to actually be catchy with tons of spine tingling riffs, mesmerizing solos, great varied song structures and hellish half rasped/half growled vocals. Most songs seem to feature both blasting parts as well as slower mid-paced highly atmospheric sections too.

'Let The Horror And Chaos Come' is a perfect example as it starts out with haunting ambiance and choirs before long dirty crunchy riffs enter the song followed by ungodly screams and a pounding drum rhythm, which chugs along perfectly when eventually the lead toward the end that's totally energetic and headbangable is delivered. 'Born In The Serpent Of The Abyss' is equally powerful with opening blasting anarchy, which move towards head bobbing groove eventually leading to this creepy chanting/bass guitar section and then a mesmerizing guitar solo. 'Demonic Fleshtemple' is almost entirely fast though with plenty of impressive parts, while, '6.6.6.' is a highly atmospheric ritualistic piece, which sounds like some unholy conjuring committed to tape. Much of the record and its remaining four songs follow in a similar path with plenty of bewitching riffs, killer solos, memorable diverse song structures as well as enough haunting atmosphere to please any black metal listener.

At thirty eight minutes this record seems perfectly timed with each of its eight songs sticking out and possessing me. It would be great to see a new Behexen record soon, but with half the members also playing in Sargeist it looks as if their attention is concentrating more so on that project for the moment...

Thy Serpent - Death (2000)

It really is a shame that Thy Serpent's, 'Death' EP from 2000 effectively marked the end of the band as nothing has surfaced since, but at least the four songs present here are among some of the finest the band wrote and its a fitting epitaph to one of Finland's mightiest. Although similar to 1998's, 'Christcrusher,' this EP refines the melodic and atmospheric qualities considerably as well the riffing is mostly mid-paced death metal, the vocals switched to a growled voice and there's a looming sense of melancholy throughout this twenty two minute recording.

'Deathbearer' kicks things off with a catchy mesmerizing riff, which leads into a brilliant melodic lead followed quickly by Azhemin's whispery sort of death metal vocals. The song although mostly mid-paced has a driving sense behind it, with some faster parts, which makes it a headbanger for sure, but the riffs are colossal, just immense throughout the whole song and the atmosphere... damn! 'Wounds of Death' opens with an acoustic part coupled with a backing synth melody, before diving into a breath taking solo and scything melodic lead, when around the two minute mark some somber clean vocals enter the song. At a little over seven minutes the song chugs along brilliantly, melodic and atmospheric as ever, though its through this song that a keen sense of gloom is felt. 'Sleep In Oblivion' feels similar to the opening song in that its melodious, aggressive and driven with a reacquiring synth line that's reminiscent of Emperor's debut, while, 'Parasites' just offers up more twisted, dark and gloomy guitar melodies with enchanting atmosphere.

Thy Serpent has been a favorite of mine for a while now and although they only have four releases to relish in all of them are massive and slightly different from each other too. I'm guessing after eleven years a new recording is not on the horizon, but at least I've always got this superb EP and their previous efforts to immerse myself in.

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! - Solstice d'hiver

Want me to buy your beer? Just put some cool artwork on it and you've got a bottle sold! Actually, as soon as I spotted this brew, Gris' sophomore release, 'Il Était une Forêt...' came to mind and since both Gris and this beer come from Quebec it seems appropriate enough, although I don't suppose I'll be drinking while listening to their music.

Solstice d'hiver is a dark beer with burning red highlights within and pours out with nearly no head. Its taste is both sweet but also slightly bitter, there's a hint of malty caramel with each swig as well as some sort of fruit-ish taste, cherry perhaps. The aroma is distinctively hoppy and alcoholic in character, likewise the aftertaste is quite hoppy too. At 11.5 fl oz and 10.2% alc/vol its a wonderful lip smacking tasty beer or barleywine if you want to be technical about it, which honestly now that I think about it probably don't have much experience with. I really wish I'd bought more than one, but the $4.99 price tag held me back from doing so. I'd really like to see this available in a 4 or 6 pack someday as I could surely make an evening out of this one.

Not much else to say other than this is one to check out, but perhaps if you've got much experience with barleywine's it wont stick out as much, but for now I'm saying I dig this one!

Craft - Void (2011)

Upon its release back in August, it had been almost six years since the last Craft release, and while 2005's, 'Fuck the Universe' was met with mixed reviews I personally thought it was their second best effort after their massive debut, 'Total Soul Rape' from 2000. Without really any side projects, other than vocalist, Mikael Nox's recent involvement in, Omnizide, the band members have kept a low profile. So, who really knows why its taken so long, but the arrival of a new and the fourth Craft album is definitely a good thing in my eyes.

Staying true to their core sound, 'Void' sounds much like their previous efforts. As ever guitarists John Doe and Joakim Karlsson come up with tons of heavy and deep riffs which are paired with common dissonant, cold and tremolo styled parts, as well as a few quick shredding solos. New bassist, Alex is audible for the most part and I always admire hearing the bass guitar in black metal since there's always this ominous tone to it. Of course vocalist Mikael Nox, screams and croaks as painfully as ever and tells tales of misanthropy and nihilism as always. The music generally remains mid-paced and sometimes even quite slow, even doom-ish, but there are some moments of faster guitar work and even some blast beats (courtesy of session man, Dirge Rep) with the drumming, but if you know Craft you know what they do and they do it again on this record.

Although the album kicks off with a pointless 20 second intro, the band blasts forward with, 'Serpent Soul,' which is one of the speedier numbers on the record with a number of quality riffs as well with that rockin' head banging sense at the onset that Craft tends to display from time to time, although the song does have its dirgey parts just to let you know that this ain't no fucking party. Things just continue onward fantastically with, 'Come Resonance Of Doom' and the string work within is immense, and when coupled with the snarling vocals it creates one of the catchiest black metal songs I think I've ever heard.

The next two songs, 'The Ground Surrenders' & 'Succumb To Sin' are equally powerful in their delivery, with once again great riff work as well as some of those quick killer solos I mentioned earlier. 'Leaving The Corporal Shade' is the doomiest song on the record, and at just a little over seven minutes its a total funeral dirge. The albums fastest song, 'I Want To Commit Murder' is next and it probably doesn't take much to realize its a complete hate anthem. 'Bring On The Clouds' is another mid-paced/doom-ish song with some speedier parts, but what I really like are the lyrics, which seem to be about a higher being reflecting on humanity and his resentment towards what they've become. The title track closes out the album and at eight and a half minutes its also the longest. Opening with dark haunting ambiance, 'Void' is an epic of abomination and a death march for the senses. In the end Craft turns, they don't look back, they take a swig and they leave.

"It's our final night in this place. There is no tomorrow. This evening we drink to the day the world ended."

Horna - Musta Kaipuu (2009)

As one of the most prolific and long running black metal bands from Finland, Horna seems to always be releasing something. In the case of, 'Musta Kaipuu,' its essentially a compilation of leftovers from the, 'Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne' 2004 recording session. Oddly enough this release is no mere cash grab for the band or label as these ten songs are just as strong as the material that was officially released on the EESE album and in fact all of these songs are better than the average bedroom black metal nonsense we constantly see today.

The sound is exactly the same as its album counterpart, with of course heavy attention placed on the abrasive raw guitar tone, lo-fi production qualities and Corvus' raucous screaming voice, as always in the Finnish language too. One of the aspects that I enjoy about Horna is that there sound seems to shift between darker monotonous mid-paced compositions to more energetic numbers with total rockin' headbanging riffs.

'Piina' opens the album and its a prime example of Horna doing the rockin' thing, with a superb main riff and a powerful spirit behind it I honestly can say this is one of my favorite Horna songs. 'Aldebaranin Susi' seems to straddle between the two styles and becomes increasingly morose as it develops, while, 'Unohdetut Kasvot, Unohdettu Ääni' brings back that vigorous attitude with plenty of repetition and speed to please any raw black metal fan. 'Vuohenlahko' is another song with a meaty catchy main riff and an admirable drive behind the whole composition. Most of this release revolves around songs like this, but 'Oi Kallis Kotimaa' is something different as the riffs sound more akin to folk metal, while the vocals are performed in a cleaner style. Apparently this is also a traditional Finnish folk song, thus the fact that it sounds like Korpiklaani gone primitive.

As a whole this record might not appeal to the average black metal listener, but as a Horna fan I found it the whole fifty eight minute affair to be quite engaging. Also the artwork is brilliant - grim dude snoozing and getting a visit from some animated skeletons, fucking right! That being said, this is a great companion piece to, 'Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne' as well as just a solid release worth picking up.

Ravencult - Morbid Blood (2011)

Old school bands with classic albums behind them, such as; Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Varathron and Zemial call Greece home. Newcomers, Ravencult who formed in 2001 call Greece home too, and if their sophomore release, 'Morbid Blood' is any indication then its fairly likely that these guys may join the elite ranks of Greek black metal someday soon.

Foregoing the experimental and cultural style that the aforementioned bands have (at times) come to be known for, Ravencult is a more traditional black metal ensemble with similarities to Bathory, Mayhem, Craft, Darkthrone and early Deathspell Omega. Although quite a bit of drum blasting and dissonant cold guitar riffage can be found within just about every song, there's also a slew of powerful, energetic and ultimately very catchy riffs present too. Most of these parts bring me back to Deathspell Omega's, 'Inquisitors of Satan' or Darkthrone's, 'Plaguewielder' due to the vigorous dynamic rockin' headbanging fist pumping awesomeness that these releases have, and I'm quite sure once you hear songs like, 'Sacrilege of Death,' 'Morbid Blood' or 'Sworn to the Unspoken Oath' you'll see what I'm talking about.

Although the songs are short and the whole ten song album runs for just a little under forty minutes the ceaseless energy and memorability of the record keeps me banging' and coming back for more too! And make no mistake about it, this is black metal all the way... just perhaps unfrozen a little in the warm Greek climate.

The production is also noticeably cleaner than most black metal releases, with the double bass drum blasting away loudly and the guitar work always being crushing and easily audible, while the vocals too are triumphant and commanding. The booklets layout is also fantastic and similar to Deathspell Omega and Watain releases with grim occult imagery within.

'Morbid Blood' might not appeal to those that insist on their black metal to be grim, cold and under produced, but for the rest of us that enjoy a little more energy, prowess, cleanliness and after all loads of fun, than this is surely one of the best in 2011 and utterly required for you to pick up!

Shroud of Despondency - Dark Meditations In Monastic Seclusion (2011)

It's strange the way sometimes bands from my past that I'd all but completely forgotten about occasionally make an appearance in my life nowadays. Sometimes its randomly through Internet browsing or suggested by a friend, but in the case of Shroud of Despondency the band moved from their previous location in Michigan to my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Originally active from '00 to '05, Shroud mastermind, Rory Heikkila released two demos, one full-length and three split releases by himself before putting the band to rest shortly thereafter. Personally my only experience with the band was one of those splits, the, 'Whispers from an Empty Room' release with Algol, which was sent to me for a review back in '04. Sometime thereafter Rory moved here to Milwaukee and has since established SoD as a full band and has been busy already releasing two full-length albums, a live album, demo and another split release this year alone. One of those two albums was released in digital format whereas this one, 'Dark Meditations In Monastic Seclusion' got the real deal physical treatment and I picked it up after being impressed with the band on their opening slot at a recent Impiety gig here.

That old split release I mentioned was a rough and wild ride through some sort of discordant black-ish doom metal with acoustics that was a bit hard to get into, but I did enjoy parts of it. Jumping ahead to today I expected something a bit purer in black metal sound after their performance, but DMiMS continues SoD's style of being challenging... sometimes. After a lengthy acoustic track that's quite good with so-so lead vocals called, 'Looking Out, Seeing One Last Ray Of Light' the band suddenly blasts away on, 'Homo Homini Lupus' with an onslaught of double bass drums, tremolo picked guitars and harshly screamed vocals as well as the occasional more melodic headbanging riffs, clever solos here and there and some clean choir-ish parts are spread out through the this song/album.

Honestly, musically its all done quite well, black metal to the bone and songs like, 'Parting of the Way' & 'Sullen Murmur, Oppressive Stillness' are just fantastic, yet something seems odd about these and everything else. And then it hit me after a few spins. The production. I have no idea how to describe it other than it doesn't sound like a typical black metal production. It has a very organic and live rehearsal sort of vibe to it, but without much of the usual BM reverb or harsh treble sound it sounds awkward to me. Also the cleanly sung vocals are what they are and it takes a bit to stomach them, fortunately the band took the right path on the third acoustic piece, 'Flicker Of The Ardent Light' where the vocals are limited to just some background chatter. The main vocals are strange in their delivery but they grow on you after a while. I've been told vocalist Mike Jurek was recently replaced so this might not even be an issue on future material.

Fortunately the record is still atmospheric in its delivery and with the inclusion of instruments, such as; the flute, piano, cello, ebow, lapsteel and various other percussive additions during both the metal and acoustic parts the album is heightened greatly. Likewise both Rory and Jon Leidtke come up with some absolutely sinister riffs and I really enjoy the way the music seems to shift between acoustic to raging fast to depressive black metal territories and back again. Sort of like Wolves in the Throne Room meets Shining and Agalloch.

In the end this is a decent record, it really is, its just the production and vocals tend to make it an uneven ride. However I'd say either clean up or blacken up that production and work on the vocals and these guys are certainly on the way to creating one stunning record.

Avenger - Shadows of the Damned (1998)

Not to be confused with the German band that would change their name to Rage in '86 or the NWOBHM group from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England that had two full-lengths in '84 & '85. Spawned fourth in '92, this Avenger hails from Volynì, Czech Republic and was originally the duo of drummer, bassist and vocalist, Honza Kapák and lead guitarist, Petr Rámus Mecák. 'Shadows of the Damned' was originally released in '97 as the bands third demo, but a year later it was re-released by Akhenatan's, Breath of Night Records in CD format.

Avenger plays a sort of slow-paced death metal with black metal undertones, which is quite a bit different from most records out there. Brooding with atmosphere, slow doomy death metal styled riffs that have a catchy sort of groove to them, raspy black metal screams and ghostly solos come together to form this fantastic record.

Speed is hardly a concern on this record as things are almost always mid-paced and even when the drums do blast away the guitars still just chug along at a good pace. The guitar work is clearly the high point of this record as its quite melodic at all times and some of those solos are absolutely spine tingling. Also do to the slow pace it creates a unique mood, that is both dark as well as sort of psychedelic in its overall delivery. The lyrics are wrote entirely in the Czech language, perhaps adding something extra worth of mystery, although English translations are provided in the booklet for the curious. The production is surprisingly clear, warm and organic with even the bass being audible, which sort of makes me curious to know if the original tape sounded like this.

At just a little over thirty three minutes this seven track release is quite pleasing and odd that I randomly found it a few months ago since about a decade ago I owned the bands debut album, 'Fall of Devotion, Wrath and Blasphemy,' which as ever I'm kicking myself for selling.

In the end this is uniquely played, technically impressive and quite the memorable recording, which really has me thinking about hunting down the rest of the bands albums now...

Sirius - Spectral Transition - Dimension Sirius (2001)

Although they only released two albums during their short run ('98-'02), Lisbon, Portugal based band, Sirius managed to release two absolutely stellar records, which have remained favorites of mine years after their release.

While the first record, 'Aeons of Magick' was heavily keyboard based symphonic black metal in a style comparable to Limbonic Art meeting early Emperor, their follow-up and final release, 'Spectral Transition - Dimension Sirius' added a harder edged death metal quality to it that frankly sounded a lot like Zyklon's debut, 'World ov Worms,' which was released just a little over a month before this album.

Essentially what this record sounds like is a more symphonic black metal version of said Zyklon album; complete with swirling haunting symphonic keyboard choirs, various industrial sound effects, voice samples, brutal pummeling drumming, killer headbanging Morbid Angel-ish death metal riffs and low growled, raspy screamed black metal and spoken narrative vocals. The Zyklon similarities are further cemented into place by the fact that Thorbjørn Akkerhaugen produced the album and the results are a crisp and loud dynamic production, while then still Zyklon vocalist, Daemon adds his insane berserking voice to four of the songs as well both Samoth and Bård Faust make contributions to the cover version of Emperor's, 'The Majesty of the Nightsky,' which might I add is fucking incredible! Despite all that, if you consider it a negative thing at all, this record is pretty goddamn awesome!

'Spectral Transition - Dimension Sirius' really is an interesting record since it manages to straddle the borders between bloodthirsty walloping death metal and highly atmospheric symphonic black metal brilliantly, and more or less if you fancy the first records from Emperor and Zyklon than you're definitely going to enjoy this beast. Favorites are many, but I find that the album just flows through the first ten songs perfectly with tons of energy and memorability and by the time you reach that eleventh song and the band rips through the Emperor cover you know you've just experienced one great record.

As earlier mentioned the band broke up after this album and members went onto various bands, such as; Storm Legion, VS777, and Re:aktor but it was mostly drummer, bassist and keyboardist, Daniel "Vukodlack" Cardoso who was active the most with bands like, Oblique Rain, Scar for Life, The Firstborn, Head Control System and most recently as Anathema's live keyboardist.

'Spectral Transition - Dimension Sirius' is an album that deserves more attention and even if some might see it as a copy cat album I see it as nothing more than a fantastic death/black metal release that truly should be re-released someday so more people can discover it's supreme grandeur.

1349 - Hellfire (2005)

Considering how tried and true, kid tested and mother approved black metal has become in the past twenty years it goes without saying that the genre has exploded to become one of most popular within the metal underground. Popularity however usually breeds failure and the classics and truly memorable albums are not as many in this new millennium as they were in the early to mid 90's. However back in 2005, Oslo, Norway based band, 1349 released a modern classic, rightly titled, 'Hellfire.'

War is declared with the words, "Hellfire" at the onset of, 'I Am Abomination' and from there 1349 rips through eight songs in fifty two minutes. While firmly rooted in the blast beat driven black metal genre, Hellfire is by no means just another Panzer Division Marduk clone since songs tend to stick out and hold their own against the others more so than any other record I've heard in this sub-genre.

The riffing although almost always fast is diverse with a good mixture of dissonant tremolo riffs, catchy rhythmic parts as well as some death and thrash metal sections and of course some slower atmospheric spine tingling areas. Music like this generally doesn't have such a gripping lively vibe to it, but this is one of those rare styled albums that I can throw on and headbang like a maniac with and as I said earlier each song really sticks out and stays with you with their own personal strengths whereas most material within this genre is forgettable after the first spin.

Similar to the guitar work, Frost's stickwork is utterly breathtaking and completely barbarous throughout the albums duration. Surely most of it is relentless blast beats, but the drum rolls, fills and occasional tempo changes are a plenty and good musicians know how to feed off of each others energy and this is an example where the brutal nature of the music is elevated even further by the diverse pummeling work this man brings to this beast. Ravn's vocal work is also of note, even if it is a somewhat standard black metal rasp its just that he puts so much heart into it that it feels as if each and every scream is directed at me personally. I also like the fact that the production of the album is clear, but not crystal clear thus making it sound as black metal should sound.

Apparently 1349 said and did what they needed to do on this album though since the follow-up, 'Revelations of the Black Flame' was a more experimental affair before somewhat coming back to speed with, 'Demonoir' last year.

I guess its no secret and most people that have heard this album have recognized it as the modern classic it surely is. Definitely a must own/listen album and really one of the overall best black metal records to come out of Norway.

Old Danish Braggot

My interest in Viking related alcoholic beverages (and my need to have random neat bottles around my apartment) prevails with, Old Danish Braggot.

This being my first experience with a braggot, I didn't know quite what to expect, but this is an exceptional brew. Brewed according to an old Danish recipe from 1700 by Dansk Mjod A/S in collaboration with Orbaek Bryggeri, this corked and caged, 1 pint/0.9 oz brew would be ideal in a snifter, which I regrettably do not own for some reason. The bottle is large, and the Mjölnir artwork makes it the ideal beverage for all of us wannabe Vikings. Brown/dark orange in color with a fizzy tan head and with a sweet malty/honey and just slightly alcoholic aroma to it... my expectations were high before even taking my first swig!

Old Danish Braggot is a mixture of beer, honey wine and ginger and that's more of less exactly what it tastes like. A good mouthful reveals a very sweet and smooth taste with just a slight implication of spice to it... basically it tastes like it smells. A superb desert beer or a good one to pull out when listening to some epic Viking metal or whatever heathen music you choose to indulge yourself with. Also at 10.1% alc/vol its more than likely you'll have a good buzz going by the time you finish off the bottle.

Negatively speaking this braggot is expensive. I paid $15 for it at a local liquor store, but I've read reviews and checked online stores and seen it go for over $20. Would I by again? Its tempting, as its quite good, but its quite fucking expensive too!

All in all though I like this one a lot and I definitely recommend it to those that prefer a little bit of sweetness and spice to their alcoholic beverages.