Equilibrium
Sagas

A surprise. A refined surprise, Equilibrium. At least not too glaring, given their past efforts which were well demonstrated in an album like "Turis Fratyr", which managed to combine typically Viking atmospheres with strong Power interludes of German origin. Although already in the album their refined, inspired streak emerged, in some parts one could not help but notice an innocence, perhaps intentional, but certainly excessive, with which certain baroque elements seemed to be placed there improperly, a bit out of context.
Well, a few years later (if I'm not mistaken it's been three), and with a brand-new contract with Nuclear Blast, Equilibrium tries again. And this time, they amaze, without a shadow of a doubt.

It's difficult to write about this album fully. Especially because, in the end, what remains in the listener's mind is always something different, each time. Something grand and majestic, or brutal and biting, or atmospheric and nostalgic. Many adjectives, many impressions, perhaps superfluous for those who only see power in Metal and consider all the accompanying details as an avoidable nuisance, but for this band, the corollaries, the details, and the most imperceptible nuances, the smallest contours, matter a lot: thanks to a production and arrangement of the tracks so perfect they border on madness, "Sagas" leaves behind it a trail of annihilation and wonder that, for my part, I rarely remember having felt in recent times. Indeed, I never would have expected that a non-Scandinavian but German band could compose such a work, which traps in its grooves the typically "glacial" and epic atmospheres of Viking from the "Ensiferum" and "Moonsorrow" school, and then turns them into an avalanche of sounds and rides typical of German Power, without losing breath and never, I mean never, even for a tenth of a minute, boring.

All the songs, starting with the first "Prolog auf Erden", establish their essence, their hard heart, in a martial epic that is never self-serving, never playful, but filled with many dreamlike traits that, without any effort, manage to transport even the most skeptical of figures to an ancestral world, distant; very distant. Made of cold, blood, sea, wars, and black and impenetrable forests.
The compositional level is very high. All the instruments grind their notes perfectly, without the slightest shadow of a snag. And to think that the average age of the members doesn't even reach 27!
In "Sagas", as I said, everyone can find what they like most: Moonsorrow, I naturally insist, especially in a song like "Die Weide und der Fluß", in my opinion the best of the entire album, and then the sharper and more characteristic Ensiferum, as in "Dämmerung", or Finntroll, Manegarm, Turisas. Many influences, perhaps intentional or perhaps not, the fact is that however you want to spin it, if these bands have undoubtedly contributed to the particular and varied world of Equilibrium, they have learned the lesson well and can also rearrange it and return it excellently.

There are typically Black Metal moments and quite orthodox ones attacking the listener's ears, and it's a pleasure to hear them excellently executed in a song like "Verrat", which, however, does not remain slavishly anchored to predefined stylistic canons: one second it's the most classic bayonet charge, the next it quickly slips, through a sudden tempo change, into an atmosphere more suited to the unabashedly Power epic, and then gives way, rapidly, to sonic outbursts.
The interludes, instead of representing fillers (and it must be said that Viking bands have used them without too much caution), are tales within tales. They slightly dampen the frenzy, bit by bit, or the nostalgia perhaps, but one can't say they're placed there just to fill space which, by the way, is really given in abundance, since the disc lasts almost eighty minutes overall, and finally has a sixteen-and-a-half-minute instrumental suite titled "Mana", a reiteration of what has been said in the entire sound-scenic journey of Equilibrium.

In the end, you are exhausted and happy. It's not easy to digest such a work, I understand well, especially if one pays due attention to most of the details that can be computed. A challenging but fascinating task. Jokingly, one could say that "Sagas" is a journey back in time aboard a Ferrari at full power.
So there's plenty of material to delight the spirit, in overabundant doses. There's no risk of overdose, although I believe this album does create a certain addiction, but, fear not, I believe we can expect the best from these young guys who, if they continue in this manner, I imagine in a few years we will find them performing on some big stage of some major international festival, with nothing to envy of the better-known and certainly, for now, more acclaimed big names of the genre.

Possess it, make it yours. It's not said that you must like it, but it will surely give you some inspiration, or perhaps, I hope for you, it will give you infinite ones. And you will be happy.