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...and so it was that in 1996, by popular demand of the fans, Thomas Forsberg, known by some as "Ace" and by many as "Quorthon", the one who sparked the Black Metal movement and then the Viking with another move, after the not so exciting interlude of "Octagon" and "Requiem", decided to return to the epic, this time with a concept album.
"Blood On Ice" tells the story (quite functional, to be honest) of revenge: the protagonist, Blood On Ice, who as a boy witnessed the destruction of his village, the massacre of men, and the deportation of women and children, sets out guided by a one-eyed old man on a path to achieve the long-awaited revenge, and to reach so far, north, into the land of no return, to save the deported and kill the two-headed beast responsible for the massacre. The plot, which at first seems quite straightforward and predictable, will actually prove to be full of citations and references to Norse mythology, which will not escape the more attentive: one could talk about the one-eyed old man, who would be Odin (who, it is said, used to disguise himself during his raids among men), the sword of "The Sword", the Notung of Siegfried, the eight-legged horse of "The Stallion", clearly Sleipnir, the horse of Odin, and many will recognize in the intro a direct citation from the opening scene of "Conan The Barbarian", scene echoed in the lyrics of the opener "Blood On Ice".
If, therefore, from the conceptual point of view the album is at least interesting, with lyrics divinely written, it must be said that from a musical standpoint, it proves to be much more challenging, although compared to works like "Hammerheart" it is more accessible, given the song durations. These, in some cases taken from the recordings of 1987 and 1988, often have a terribly '80s taste, particularly the pair "The Sword"-"The Stallion" seem to come straight out of "Into Glory Ride". The album flows in a dark atmosphere, which at times becomes truly oppressive, as is typical of the Viking style, which, like the Epic Metal from the '80s, relies on slow sounds, often repetitive, that almost never indulge in speed.
And while we follow the maturation journey of Blood On Ice, from boy to man, from man to demigod, one can't help but be captivated by tracks like "The Woodwoman" or "The Lake" (tragically glued together in a single track on the poor Black Mark reissue) and, as if by magic, the underlying repetitiveness is forgotten, or maybe one even learns to appreciate it; the same goes for the production, which, as Quorthon has accustomed us to since the debut, is absolutely unworthy, and at times sounds not too dissimilarly to a busy steel mill, where the voice is often covered by the relentless guitar. But perhaps, paradoxically, it is precisely these seeming flaws, Quorthon's missed notes or the neighbor's lawn mower noise (entered forcefully in the acoustic "Man Of Iron") that make this "Blood On Ice", like "Hammerheart" before it, a great album.
It's hard to explain how Quorthon managed this magic, how it was possible for him to transform flaws into strengths, and it's also difficult to explain how this album would lose its charm with any other singer and a crystal-clear and modern production. So difficult that I don’t even try; I recommend to all lovers of Epic and especially to those of Viking who haven't done so yet, to put this album in their gramophone or stereo and let themselves be transported to the frozen and dark lands of the north, by one of the greatest the metal world has ever had: Quorthon.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 Man of Iron (02:47)
I have paced these forests for so long I don't know if I am man or I am beast.
I, though, hold deep within me a quest for revenge.
Then I must be a man as much as I can be.
I have learned to speak the tongue of animal
I have learned to read the signs in bark and snow.
I have taken within myself the spirits of my fathers,
long time gone.
In this short time, far from home, a man of Iron I've grown.
A man of Iron I have grown.
05 The Sword (04:07)
This sword of steel that I hold in my hand.
Ore of this mountain.
A sword of this land.
Made for a king when the elders were young.
To guard us and to guide us in an age since long gone.
A sword to protect the peace in troubled times.
A sword made to battle and to take a life.
This sword is the backbone of the life that I know.
Here among mountains and snow.
This sword will be one with me. Body and soul.
All of me will be delivering each blow.
Slung on my back. Oh, its powers I feel.
I can hardly wait to try its steel.
A sword to protect the peace in troubled times.
A sword made to battle and to take a life.
This sword is the backbone of the life that I know.
Here among mountains and snow.
Behold its sharp beauty. Just look at its shine.
This sword was forged in fire and ice.
This sword is the backbone of the life that I know.
Here among mountains and snow. Now I am ready.
To let this old sword sing again.
06 The Stallion (05:13)
Tendons and muscles of steel.
And the blaze of lightning in its eyes.
White as the snow on the hills.
And its reins, that I hold, they are mine.
This stallion and sword in exchange
For my heart and both of my eyes.
The ravens of swift wings my sight.
Surely now victory must be mine.
Eight legged stallion of mine.
Run with the speed of the winds.
Eight legged stallion I stride.
Run as if you carried wings.
I paint thee with blood from my veins.
Images of origin long lost.
I adorn your white mane and tail.
With the stars that fell from the sky.
07 The Woodwoman (06:17)
"Resting by my fire. Looking deep into its flames.
My mind must have been somewhere else.
Far beyond these plains.
I am suddenly aware of a pair
of eyes staring at me.
I turn around and behold the most
ugly thing I have seen.
The woman standing in the glade
like a shadow in the night
Points her wretched finger at me
with a wretched smile.
And she asks me in a voice
that sounds as if it's been so long
since she spoke, if I seek magic,
then I should come along.
I'm but a man. Mortal a man.
But she leaves no footprints in the snow.
Still I follow on to where she is going.
For she has promised me magic if I follow on.
She takes me to a part of these woods
few have ever seen.
Where the sun surely won't reach,
still the ground ominously gleams.
She says she's seen me coming
and that she knows where I'll go.
But befor I leave, she says
there is this one thing I should know.
She offers me the ability
to take a fatal wound.
Every cut by sword or spear will be
absorbed by her tree-womb.
This magic will remain until it's
time for me to part with this mortal world.
And all she'll claim is my young heart.
I'm but a man. Mortal a man.
And I'll need all the help I can get.
So I give my heart to the woman of the dark.
With or without it... my life is not over yet."
Wing of bat and lizzards eye.
Dust of a star fallen from the sky.
Tears of a virgin and the cum of a god.
Thirteen drops of an infants blood.
A twist of a cat�s spit and oil of the moon
Stir for a while a very soon.
A salve to be applied upon the chest
close to where the heart beats strong.
"No pains will occur when her hand is pushed into my flesh.
She'll slowly draw my living heart out of my open chest.
She'll place my heart on the pit of the snake and behold the years go by.
Hers to keep from the moment when the time has come for me to die."
10 The Ravens (01:09)
Steadily on jagged wings.
Feathers black against the burning sky.
Spread your wings and ride the wind.
Gaze down on me with blackest eyes.
Fly my Ravens, fly ahead.
Over the mountains and endless sky.
Fly my Ravens, over my head.
Let the wind carry you up high.
Fly my Ravens, it's time to fly.
And for me maybe to die.
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