I saw the writing on the wall for Equilibrium’s downfall with 2016s Armageddon, and its epically bad lead single “Born to be Epic”). But I didn’t see the next album being such a complete and total disaster that completely alienates the band’s fan base.

After 4 albums that arguably  stand among the very best in epic folk/black metal, the band is completely unidentifiable as the same band, as Renegades sounds like a mid 2008s metalcore/melo-death band, in fact they sound more like country mates Deadlock from that same time than anything remotely resemble Turis Fratyr,  Sagas, Erdentemple or Rekreatur. And anyone expecting anything close to the likes of “Wurzelbert”, “Heimwärts”, “Uns’rer Flöten Klang”, “Wirsthaus Gaudi”, “Ruf In Den Wind” or “Snuffel”  had better get ready for some MAJOR disappointment or better yet, just not even bother with this album.

Instead we get to hear the band’s death knell with a fucking rap break in “Path of Destiny” (I’ll let that one sink in, I wish I was joking) , a pop metal song with female vocals (not good ones I might add) that sounds like a discarded Babymetal song in “Hype Train” (yep, “Hype…..Train”).  And In between, we get generic keyboard and clean chorus laden, 00s chuggy metalcore/melo-death in the likes of “Renegades”, “Tornado”, “Himmel Und Feuer”,  “Moonlight” and the vaguely Far East inspired, save the planet anthem, “Kawaakari” (that is literally an opening riff from 2006)  that Six Reasons to Kill, Fear My Thoughts or Caliban would have dropped in 2006 when the genre was over commercialize and over -saturated. Complete with the same production and vocals.

Penultimate track “Final Tear” is the only listenable song on the album as it has a stern blast beat before the more save the earth, female spoken words ruin it, but then the closing ballad “Rise of the Phoenix” (symbolic of the band’s change I’m sure), nails the coffin shut on what once was a great band. I won’t even get into the inane lyrics (“All gone, all right, Entering just another fight, You’ve got to learn every rule,You’ve got to tell them ‘shut up fool’,Then take it and break it
‘Cause that’s the only way to make it,Your goal for the next decade,Is to become a renegade!”).

I get that the album is a call to arms for Mother Earth, the environment etc,  and  that ‘Renegade’ means “a person to behaves in a rebelliously unconventional manner”, and clearly the band is cementing that definition, clearly changing styles in full force. But ‘Renegade’ also also means “having treacherously changed allegiance”, and “a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles”, and on Renegades, Equilibrium have clearly done both.

RIP Equilibrium.

While the album is still unmistakably Equilibrium, the band appear to be trying to reinvent themselves a little, and spreading their wings and ambition outside of their usual realms. Not to say this is a completely different album from past efforts, but it is definitely a more restrained, serious and less bombastic, bouncy album. The hall mark elements are still somewhat present in the band’s epic keyboards and campy, melodic take of folky black metal, but there are far less happy, catchy and memorable rousing moments, even if the overall  mood suits the albums central theme.

After the spoken word intro “Sehnsucht” you get “Erwachen”, as flat and as plain Equilibrium track as I’ve ever heard, and far from a attention grabbing album opener. “Katharsis” finally gets the album going proper with a nice mid paced romp and just when I think we are back, Equilibrium drop “Heimat”, a virtual pop song and the now infamously bad “Born to be Epic” (at least in folk metal circles), with a chorus/breakdown/techno ho-down thing that has to be heard to be believed.

“Zum Horisont” and “Rise Again” offers some redemption as the album’s most blistering enjoyable and throwback tracks, and I think the album might recover. But then we get 4 long, serious, and slower ballad style tracks in “Prey”, ‘Helden” (with an eight bit video game music break) , dreary instrumental “Koyaaniskatsi” and the dull. drawn out 7 minute closer “Eternal Destination”. I get the message here, “man bad”, but I listen to Equilibrium to lift me up, not bring me down.

Even with tracks like “Katharsis”, “Zum Horisont” and “Rise Again”, there is nothing on Armageddon that comes close to the likes of “Uns’rer Flöten Klang”, ““Wirsthaus Gaudi”, “Wurzelburt” ““Ruf In Den Wind”  “Snuffel” or “Heimwarts”. Not even close, and that is a huge disappointment for me (and my daughter, who loves those songs). And while I respect Equilibrium’s effort to be a little more ambitious and creative, Armageddon ends up being quite a large let down and step back from their previous albums.

So there is epic and then there is EPIC (yep- all caps and Italics). But Equilibrium take it to the next level. While essentially continuing the heavly Finnish folk sound of Finntroll, Ensiferum and Turisas with a splash of Bal-Sagoth, the sheer level of uplifting, rousing, movie score quality, bombastic, bouncy and mother fucking catchy music on display on Erdentempel is down downright silly. It matches Sagas on almost all levels with the exception that Erdentempel has a couple of slower, lighter (phone?) swaying anthems instead of one long 13 or so minute track as they had on Sagas (“Mana”) and Rekreatur (““Kurzes Epos”). 

“Ankunft” sets the mood with a short instrumental intro before “Was Lange Währt”  starts the ride for real with a typical catchy synth laden canter, it’s a nice little taster of whats to come, but the short lived little trot at 2:34 is a harbinger of the stupid fun that follows. “Waldschrein” is taken from the prior EP and is just a downright fun little romp before “Karawane” slows things down with the album’s first mid paced lighter waver. It stops the building momentum a bit , but like a roller coaster, it’s a needed slow ride up the hill before “Uns’rer Flöten Klang” delivers arguably the albums best cut, and one of the happiest most uplifting folk songs Iv’e heard. It’s  a ridiculously uplifting, flute driven jaunt and if the little flute-y breakdown at 3:47  to doesn’t make you smile or bounce your head, then you simply fail at life and metal.

“Freiflung” bring things back down to a more moody, somber pace, and while I question some of the momentum breaking slower songs, they do allow you to catch your breath and break up the raucous folk elements so they don’t get a repetitive and lose impact.  The next track, “Heavy Chill”  has a goofy but addictive little disco/reggae break  and sing along that shows the band certainly is having fun and not afraid to get a little silly within the confines of metal. Then another standout, “Wirsthaus Gaudi” canters into the fray with arguably the catchiest beer drinking song I’ve heard in years, using a traditional German folk/beer hall music backbone as its stupid catchy chorus. Again,I defy you not to smile or think about lederhosens  and steins of ale sloshing around.

“Stein Meiner Ahnen” features the fastest material the band has written driven by a bombastic, rousing, light speed orchestral opening and a simply rousing, choral close out to die for before “Wellengang” slows things down again. However, while a slower track, “Wellengang” does feature a fucking amazing main synth line, a sort of orchestral chorus that is simply brilliant and could be the main theme for any number of Hollywood sci fi/fantasy movie rivaling  anything Zimmer, Elfman or Shore has penned.

There is a little sense of lost steam for the album’s last two slower tracks. Despite “Apokalypse” being the band’s heaviest , most guitar driven and menacing song to date and “The Unknown Episode” closing things out with yet another lighter waving sing along ballad, I felt that “Wellengang” was the album’s natural stopping point, and I would have been completely happy with the album and rank it easily as one of the best folk metal albums of recent memory and the most fun I have had with an album in a long time.

Dahn is almost indistinguishable from Stang as he has the same mix of black metal rasps and some deep death metal vocals, but what makes Equilibrium so alluring is their music which has kept its charm; an epic mix of black metal, folk metal and death metal with oodles of keyboards and bouncy, catchy riffs that are rooted in the Finnish school of folk metal (Ensiferum, Finntroll, Turisas, etc) but taken to the next level (a dash of Bal-Sagoth even) of bombastic pomp and cheese.

“In Heiligen Hallen” gets things going in typical epic, Equilibrium fashion; a warm, orchestral intro and a galloping, stirring explosion of grin inducing, romping metal. And while, it’s basically the same sort of track as Saga’s “Wurzelburt”, it’s no less enjoyable.  And so the familiarity continues with “Verbrannte Erde”  and “Wenn Erdreich Bricht” being this album’s slow somber tracks, “Die Affeninsel” and arguable standout “Aus Ferner Zeit” bounce along with aplomb and even some female vocals and beer hall chants.  But while I do get the feeling that the band seems to be treading water a tad, with most of the moments from Rekreatur feeling like rehashed tracks from Sagas, its not a bad thing considering how much I enjoyed Sagas.

On a minor note, there’s no one track that blows my mind: Where Sagas had the standouts like “Snuffel”, or short sharp burst of “Heimwarts” and “Ruf In Den Wind”, Rekreatur simply flows with an enjoyable, likeable consistency. Other groovy favorite “Fahrtwind” is the nearest thing to those tracks. However, where Sagas had the 13-minute instrumental closer “Mana”, a track I didn’t really agree with, Rekreatur has another lengthy closer, “Kurzes Epos” which actually is a pretty epic, killer track covering all of Equilibriums’ bases and pacing. Either way, the album makes me smile, and that’s enough for me.

If you splurge and get the digipak special edition of the album, you get a bonus disc which has acoustic/instrumental redos of 5 tracks (including “Heimwarts” and “Blut Im Auge” from Sagas). They come across much like Finntroll’s Visor Om Slutlet – with the awesomely frantic acoustic take on “Heimwarts” being particularly enjoyable. The bonus disc adds a nice little cherry on top of an awesome folk metal cake, that wont be as high on my year end list as Sagas, but still there none the less.

Folks (and I’m referring to those of you wearing chain mail skirts right now), the likes of Eluveitie, Heidevolk, Arkona, Tyr and others have certainly released solid folk/Viking albums this year, but the truth is in sheer majesty, catchiness, and overall completeness, Sagas is just downright brilliant, it simply blows all other similar releases away from the last few years. It’s that good. Nope-it’s virtually perfect and the key to the perfection is the blend of blistering, melodic black metal riffs and vocals, earthy death metal vocals and synths that flow from bombastically high fantasy and truly ethnic/folky and a sublime sense of bouncy riff penmanship that knows what works and what to stick with at the risk of repetition.

After tantalizing intro “Prolog Auf Erden”, the ridiculously catchy “Wurzelbert” gets the album going for real with the formula that surfaces for pretty much every following track with a few exceptions. The next track, “Blut Im Auge” I had already heard from the Pagan Fire compilation earlier thus year, but it continues the bouncy ethnic flourishes. “Unbesiegt” has one of the albums few question marks with an odd tribal/jungle intro and mid section stuck in an otherwise outstanding, blistering track. “Verrat” turns up the intensity for a more of a stern death metal jaunt. Then, one of the many standouts, (all of the tracks are really) “Snüffel” takes the already fantastic formula and throws in a proggy, rock, 70’s vibe with a riff at 3:25 that makes me go into a Slain-like berserker mode. “Heimwärts” is this album’s equivalent of Turis Fratyr’s “Met”, a short but killer burst of Finntroll-ish humpa death metal.

“Heiderauche” finally offers an instrumental respite for your neck before the album’s closing tracks offer lengthier more introspective hues; the somber trio of “Die Weide Und Der Fluß”, “Des Sängers Fluch” and penultimate track “Dammerung” tone things down a bit only being broken up by my other favorite standout “Ruf In Den Wind”, which gallops with a still somber sense of energy.

Closer “Mana” is the album’s other slightly eyebrow raising moment, a fully fleshed out, sixteen minute, mid-paced, instrumental track that pushes the album over the 80- minute mark, essentially making the last third of the album, while still perfect, pretty morose compared to the rest of the albums bouncy grandiosity.

Ultimately though, Sagas has me grinning from ear to ear (under my helm of course), and will be a contender for album of the year. And depending on what Wintersun come up with next year, is the most stunning example of this style of music in recent memory.

Part Ensiferum, part Amon Amarth, part old Thyrfing, all Viking, Equilibrium have released what is easily the best and most fun Viking metal album since Moonsorrow’s Kivenkentaja. With Ensiferums’s power metal gait and gallop, Amon Amarth’s crushing blows and death metal lean and Thyrfing’s liberal use of synths, Equilibrium have perfected what Viking metal should be. The level of epic grandeur and Teutonic glory is off the damn charts here folks, if you’ve ever read and heeded my Viking metal reviews in the past, heed me now, you NEED this.

“Wingthor’s Hammer” opens things up with a gloriously over the top jaunt into synth laden cheese and vocally Helge Stang not only uses the usual mid range Viking scream, but a deep, trollish death metal growl that just adds ‘something’ to the keyboard steeped tones. The guitars also switch from the typical blackened delivery to deeper, crunchy moments that are certainly Amon Amarth based. “Unter Der Eiche”, initially gives you a moment to catch your breath with a riff that somehow reminded me of “We, Three Kings of Orient Are”, but soon rights itself with some mid paced majesty and epic blasting that’s far meatier than most traditional Viking metal. The brief “Der Sturm” is a more typical canter through synth laced pomp but has some superbly earthy pace changes (the one at 2:18 is simply magnificent) that fit the songs namesake.

Admittedly after the all too short but sublime prior track, the frivolous piccolo, female vocals and lengthy pace of “Widars Hallen”, seem ‘light’, but as a galloping epic, it’s perfect. I’d love to go through track by track for you, but honestly, it’s all so damn good. There’s not a single weak moment on the album, and as strong as the first few tracks are, the quality never seems to wane or wander. The Finntroll-ish, accordion stomp of “Met”, the lavish lumber of “Die Prophezeiung”, the crushing yet haunting “Helheim”, the Bal-Sagoth -esque, 9 minute epic “Tote Heldendagen”, all just codpiece swellingly pleasing examples of utterly perfect Viking splendor, there’s simply no drop off or let down.

Oh yeah, this is their debut album too. In a year that will see my top ten possibly dominated by metalcore, this album, just makes me incredibly happy and proud to be a Viking metal fan as this album not only reawakens my metalcore hazed bloodlust, it shows that pomp and cheese can be so god damn entertaining. Good luck finding this album anywhere other than German distro’s, but its sooooo fucking worth the extra effort and shipping cost. Heck, I might even rejoin the SCA to crack a few skulls….