Elvenking
Scythe

Elvenking
The Scythe
AFM Records, 2007
Power - Death - Folk - Heavy

And Elvenking have finally grown and blossomed. I can almost see them turning around for a moment, waving goodbye to their sonic childhood, before turbocharging ahead and leaving behind most, if not all, Italian bands of the genre. What genre? Well, this fourth effort titled The Scythe is very difficult to frame and probably a single cold category feels rather constraining; but we will have the chance to discuss this further on.

The very Italian Elvenking (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) are a band in evolution and they have now reached their highest point. The adventure began at the start of the millennium with the folk metal of Heathenreel and continued with greater maturity and metallic inclination in Wird, still heavy with folk atmospheres. The hardening of the sound became evident only with the subsequent The Winter Wake: a clear example of good direct power metal with just a sprinkling of the past to serve as a delectable side dish. I was therefore very curious to hear The Scythe. The cover of this work, when compared to the fantastic/fairy-tale covers of previous CDs, immediately prepares the listener for the change, being unusually dark: a nighttime cemetery with an unsettling girl (representing death) in the foreground. The album is a sort of concept album centered precisely on the theme of death. Aydan (the band’s lead guitarist) & Co. offer us medieval ballads, in an exaggerated power-death key.

In short, Elvenking have grown tired of playing with little elves, and while maintaining a taste of the past with the presence of the violin and sometimes pompous choirs, they make a decisive thrust towards the future. They thus give further and precious space to the angry and exhilarating "growl" singing, and a massive amount of industrial riffs that strike with vehemence. The band lays down the foil to sharpen the scythe, but maintain a sufficient melodic charge that might please old fans who, however, should make peace with the fact that they will inevitably be baffled by Scythe. Tempo changes, devastating accelerations, dichotomous vocal interweavings that scream and great execution power are mixed with brief pauses seasoned by violin and keyboards. They sing and play with the awareness of those who know they are good and have a monopoly since no one currently blends genres like them. There is never the risk of experiencing that annoying sensation of déjà vu. In their tracks, Elvenking have a musical base that ranges from the most classic heavy to folk, to power and, now more than ever, also to death. It is also not rare for the boundaries between the various genres to be crossed multiple times within a single song. The minutes, which in some tracks exceed 8, fly by amid the perfectly oiled gears of a seasoned band. The atmosphere throughout the CD remains dark, expectant and the listener, in the brief moments of metallic pause, where Elyghen’s sinister violin stands out, is in a state of uneasy tranquility: ready to face the assault of Aydan’s six-string, never sharper and more lethal.

It would be enough to even distractedly listen to a mutable song like Romance & Wrath or the final Dominhate, the immediate power-death of Poison Tears or Infected, the power of Lost Hill Of Memories or get carried away by the more conventional metal of the single The Divided Heart to understand that Elvenking with Scythe, from any sonic angle (heavy-power-death) you look at it, have hit the mark and are no longer just another promising power metal band. I have some doubts that these few lines can motivate someone to get to know them, but I write as an incurable optimist, convinced that trying can’t hurt. A CD with great songwriting, played, produced, and sung professionally and should be listened to by anyone who loves metal and does not fossilize on a specific genre.