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Cold. The song of the North, an electric waltz of dim lights among the pines, a giant with a head covered in moss, a distant sun, a glimmer amidst sleepy heaths buried under inches of powdery snow.
Tomas "Quorthon" Forsberg incessantly paints his steel chants, armed with an exacerbating simplicity to write six (or nine?) symphonies that leave one trembling and eager to transcend the boundaries of imagination, to delve into the winding paths of thickets filled with mysterious creatures created by the myth of an era steeped in sad memories and dramatically lost epicness.
The guitars march acidic and pachydermic, bringing to mind battles between Vikings and Bjarmians, evoking visions of conquests, finely adorned clothes, furs and long manes, of fierce clashes in the shadows of fjords and mountains. The North and its misty atmospheres live, breathe, shout, and enjoy Forsberg's unique ability to musicalize it and make its purity so tangible that it transforms this pearl into an unrepeatable journey.
In the Variaghs' chant "Blood And Iron", magnificently opened by vaguely Celtic and dreamy acoustic sounds, one admires the metallic musculature of slow and muddy riffs, solitary vocal lines, narrating of periods distant thousands of years. The rhythmic contribution is engraved in rock and bronze, collapsing on the Swedish's '80s solos for a finale where the chorus opens a chasm of melancholy and incessant tears.
Quorthon shouts to march under the runes, to die under the runes in the next track, and he does so with a fervor and passion that leave one trembling, astonished. Deep and sepulchral choirs refer to funeral rites lost in the void of memories, the six-string blows with the force of the Blizzard, swelling and combative melodies that we will hear again in the proud followers Immortal of the tremendous "At The Heart Of Winter".
"Bond Of Blood" instills fear, gothic and treacherous, its catacombal riffs take us through oaks and abandoned temples. The theatrical voice of the bard from Stockholm (R.I.P.) drags us away in a hurricane of nostalgic solos and thundering percussions that sink into the acoustic glimmers of Scandinavian dawns with a captivating allure.
"Hammerheart" closes triumphantly amid gusts of classical music and sumptuous vocals, a trembling, emotional soundscape that spits out the most true and uncontrollable passion, the liberating scream that instead of dirty and obsessive metal uses orchestral weapons and ethereal visions of painful sunsets.
A timeless work that does not suffer from changing trends, that does not care for coteries and labels, that celebrates the cult of the North with vigor and simplicity as befits the men of the North.
"Only they who walks the clouds knows
For how long the wind blows
And the sky is blue above us.."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Under the Runes (05:59)
In great numbers we advance before dawn
By the great hail this great fight is born
Among the clouds now our black wings fills the air
No more frontlines the holy battle is everywhere
Though death may await me on the battlefield
I die to go on but by the great hail I will go,
I am marching Under The Runes
Countless victories we fight side by side
Deep down in the oceans on land and way up in the sky
Comed this far now there is no way back or return
If we do withdraw the horizon will seem to burn
Though death now is closing in on me
I die to go on but by the great hail I will go,
I am fighting Under The Runes
Standing here now amidst the hell we have made
All signs of a wonder or to survive now seems to fade
But I am a fighter and I still have my pride
They are gonna have to kill, by my own hand I refuse to die
Though now death is all that awaits me
I die to go on but by the great hail I will go
I am dying Under The Runes
07 Hammerheart (04:57)
Now that the wind called my name
And my star had faded now hardly a glimpse
up in the empty space
And the wise one-eyed great father
in the sky stilled my flame
For the ones who stood me near
And you few who were me dear
I ask of thee to have no doubts and no fears
For when the great clouds fills the air
And the thunder roars from o, so
far away up in the sky
Then for sure you will know that I have
reached the joyous hall up high
With my bloodbrothers at side
All sons of father with one eye
We were all born in the land of the blood on ice
And now you all who might hear my song
Brought to you by the northern wind have no fear
Though the night may seem so everlasting
and forever dark
There will come a golden dawn
At ends of nights for all yee on whom
Upon the northstar always shines
The vast gates to hall up high
Shall stand open wide and welcome you
with all its within
And Oden shall hail us bearers of a pounding
Hammerheart
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By emanuele
A true masterpiece composed of 7 viking pearls is born, pearls that go by the name of 'Twilight Of The Gods.'
'Hammerheart' is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard: the emotional charge that this Viking choir releases is something unparalleled.
