Falkenbach - ...En Their Medh Riki Fara... (1996)

I have a rather interesting memory connected to this album, which dates back to the summer of 2001 when I bought it from a vender, Resistance Records, a pro-white label based out of West Virginia at the Milwaukee Metalfest. If truth shall be told I never had any interest in white power music, though I did listen to a lot of NSBM around the time simply because it felt more rebellious than Satan, but then again I was just a stupid twenty year old kid at the time.

In any case, I was buying it simply because I had already purchased Falkenbach's second album, '...Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri...' a few months earlier and had enjoyed it immensely and obviously I wanted to hear everything the band had available at the time. Unfortunately somehow Falkenbach got clumped into this pro-white culture, and I'm assuming simply because the band had Ásatrú imagery and lyrics in the early days. After purchasing the album I was handed a booklet detailing their goals and was thanked for joining the movement... fuck, man, I just wanted some music.

Past life experiences aside, '...En Their Medh Riki Fara...' is Falkenbach's debut from '96, released on kvlt label No Colours Records from Germany and it just so happens to be band mastermind, Vratyas Vakyas' finest creation to date too. In these earlier days Falkenbach was a bit more black metal themed, as almost all the vocals were venomous shrill shrieks of terror and some speedier moments can be found, though the music is mostly mid-paced and carried strong epic viking metal touches. Clean vocals and choirs were present of course, though where later works almost made exclusive use of them they are a bit more subdued on this debut. Majestic though sometimes hooky (I mean, just listen to, 'Asum Ok Alfum Naer...' for example) keyboards are used frequently as well as many appearances of acoustic guitars.

Interestingly I find that the album is a bit more guitar driven than later works, there's no wild solos, just soaring grand riffs, especially on the song, 'Winternight,' which is pure Bathory worship and by far the albums highlight. I like the whole thing though, 'Heathenpride' is a Pagan metal masterpiece to say the least and songs like, 'Laeknishendr' or '...Into the Ardent Awaited Land...' feel like the most viking metal to my ears, even though viking metal really wasn't even a genre at this time, so call it whatever the hell you want.

Its strange to think that Falkenbach (much like Windir after Valfar's death) would go on to become one of the biggest bands within the viking/folk metal genre, but what can I say other than the quality of the first two recordings speak for themselves. I don't believe this album has ever been re-released, but if you should happen to find it do pick it up, because its definitely Falkenbach at their best.