Thyrfing - Urkraft (2000)

Back in the day 'round these parts we used to have a joint called, 'The Mainstream Megastore,' and within was a smaller shop that was solely dedicated to heavy metal, mostly of the blacker and underground variety, specifically. Although having been into metal already for years, it wasn't until around the time of this albums release that I began to fully and obsessively delve into the endless world of underground metal... and many of the first albums I bought were from this place. I have some pretty special memories of that place and was crushed when it closed up in 2002... and from what I recall one of the first albums I ever bought from, 'The Metal Shop' was Thyrfing's third album, 'Urkraft.' Ahh, good times.

At the time of its release, 'Urkraft' was by far Swedish Viking metalers, Thyrfing's most mature release to date. The two earlier albums, although passable, lacked overall strong song writing, they weren't overall very memorable or catchy and the guitar work was generally so-so and the keyboards were mostly cheap and hooky sounding. While this album wasn't dramatically different in style it was vastly improved in just about every area and at least in my opinion a true gem and now classic of the Viking metal genre.

One of the things I really enjoy about this album is the highly melodic guitars, which can be both head bangable and slightly aggressive at times, but mostly really folky and epic sounding in character. A quick listen to songs like, 'Home Again,' 'The Breaking Of Serenity' or 'Till Valfader Urgammal' reveal this quite well. Of course just about every song has some really good licks in them and the occasional placement of some acoustics here and there just makes the songs a bit stronger too. Also The songs although not greatly long in length still have a progressive nature to them and are constantly evolving and revealing new attributes that just make them all the more interesting.

The keyboards are also a bit more tastefully and well placed on this album and as expected they carry the same folky or epic sound that the guitars hold, you've just got to love that majestic intro to, 'Jord' or the almost whimsically folkish parts in, 'Mjölner.' The albums complete with strong drum work, audible bass, mouth harp, raspy throaty vocals and the occasional cleanly sung parts as well. Oh, and might I add that the bands cover of Gary Moore's, 'Over The Hills And Far Away' is freakin' killer too!

'Urkraft' is indeed a strong and worthy addition to your Viking metal collection and although the band would expand even further on the follow-up, 'Vansinnesvisor,' which is fantastic too, though due to the memories connected with this album its just always hit home the most for me.