Secondly, this is such a nuanced, varied, and deep album that reviewing it and doing it justice proved challenging. I’m certain I failed anyway. So here we are. I’ve been on a bit of a black metal kick, so I wanted to see what the still original-ish lineup was up to.

At 55 minutes in length (another reviewing challenge for my ADHD), The Skies That Turn Black, while certainly falling under the black metal umbrella, is far more than that. As with all of the bands’ post-Windir discography, it sheds the skin of the more simple viking-y, pagan throes of those albums and delivers an incredibly ambitious, creative, but melancholic and unpredictable album that lines up alongside other Norwegian luminaries like Enslaved, Borknagar, Shining, Arcturus, Ulver, Tulus, Dark Throne, Fleurety, and such. Though not fully ‘avant-garde’.

There is soooo much going on here. Every single track offers a different and unexpected journey. Some good, some OK, some brilliant. Early on, there is the majestic morose opening track, “From These Woods”, which covers all of black metal sub-genres, and the simple stomp of the title track (a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne), with a main riff that could be a Khold or Tulus song, and the stern, straight-up black thrash of “A Second Death”.

Then the album starts to really mix things up; we get the instrumental “Kraken” (dedicated to the band’s first music teacher), then Agnete Kjølsrud, of Djerv ( though you may recall her as the female vocalist on Dimmu Borgir‘s “Gateways”), croons and howls her way through the sultry, darkwave goth rock of “Loving the Dead”, and the short steady march of “Build and Destroy” again recalls Khold-ish, cold, simplicity but with a few added psychdelic keys.

In the album’s back third, “Chaos” is my favorite track with its soaring chorus and keys, while “Smile of Hate” has a really nice solo and piano usage, and “Echoes of Life” is a somber, clean-sung ballad that fits the band’s history, but brings the album down a bit before closer “The Earth Rumbles” brings it home with a cathcy black ‘n’ roll canter and 70s organs.

The Skies Turns Black takes a lot of listens to fully grasp, and I’m not 100% I’m there yet, despite my tardiness in this review and the multiple listens it took to put words to paper (screen?). But you should certainly undertake this layered and sometimes brilliant album.

Formed in 2015 with a handful of full-length albums to their credit prior to Bly (which I have not heard). Which is okay, I’ll probably go back and check out their other albums based on this release. The album was recorded with producer Oscar Nilsson at Bohus Studios and it has a nice and beefy punch to it as far as the production goes, it helps to make Bly an incredibly enjoyable record. It has that festival feeling to it, the kind that has the crowd bouncing up and down; you know what I’m talking about.

It begins with the (to my ears) very Slipknot-ish “Sluta tro på allt” that bouncy, sort of Nü Metal guitar that ruled the early 2000s; fortunately for Knogjärn it doesn’t get old and for me at almost 52 years of age, it’s safe to say my pogoing days are over.

But even saying that they’re just a Metalcore band period is not correct, there’s Metalcore moments don’t get me wrong; but as such as the second track “Bly ellar pengar” shows they can do P.O.D. better than P.O.D. (which is fine because I don’t like P.O.D.) but because it isn’t those purveyors of happiness and joy-joy I actually enjoyed bopping around with it.

The same goes for “Farväl” a thrasher at the beginning and going full Avenged Seven-Fold (but their older stuff that didn’t suck). Then there’s more out P.O.D.-ing. I honestly didn’t listen to much Nü Metal so I don’t really have much to compare this to.

“Hoppas inte du fryser” bounces around with batshit insanity and gets a bit Static X-ish. It would’ve been a bit easier to know what song I was listening to due to the tracks not being in order, neither here nor there but it’s a gripe nonetheless. That aside, it’s still an enjoyable song that serves to keep the blood pumping throughout.

“Ingen kommer in” and “Min stad” both keep things interesting with jagged, Nü Metal guitar riffs and earthshaking rhythms, there’s even some scratching effects that; once again remind me of early Slipknot.

Rounding out the album “Smörbultad” keeps the tank rolling with the thunder of this Nü Metal Army. “Redd för dig”, “Tror du village brinna” and “Kärleken väntar” close out this mind-bending piece of early 2000s Nü Metal, almost Pop Punk in spare usage. There’s rapping (which isn’t annoying here), it actually sounds harder and better than American rapping; less pussy and more spite.

Knogjärn are angry at something, that’s evident. What they’re angry at is beyond me, but that’s okay; what matters is that Bly is an enjoyable, frisky release.

For you lunatics who still wear Jnco pants and live for the swanky tunes of Static X, SOAD, P.O.D., and Mudvayne. You know you want this.

“At the end of Vertikal, we stood in the cold harshness of the mechanical city and looked up onto the stars. We lost ourselves in the awe of their grace and thought that maybe the answer is to be found above. The ship was leaking and by the look of it, our home was dying. No room for fear when a greater call demands your full attention. So, we left… Onward, forward. Like the old seafarers, we explored the vastness of space. Not bound by physical laws we pass the speed of light and chase the expansion of space until we reach its limit. And then, we continued on and disappeared. This is our story.”

And then they returned. Changed, and now with a challenging and captivating new voice in Julie Christmas (ex-Battle of Mice, ex-Made Out of Babies), but in many ways, still the same.

I’ve never heard her before, but she’s an inspired addition. Part Bjork and part Siouxsie Sioux – sometimes affecting a childlike call (“A Greater Call”) and sometimes a mysterious sneer (“Chevron”). It’s a welcome and magnetic performance. Her screamed and feral vocals are a bit of an acquired taste, but the music helps ground them – it’s hard not to be swept away by the power of tracks like “Cygnus” or “The Wreck of the S.S. Needle.” The juxtaposition of shrill screams and sludgy, martial thrum does gel much better with headphones; you’ll also catch a lot more of the cold, otherworldly effects flowing in and out of the mix.

As for Johannes Persson, his vocals are more accompaniment this time than starring role. He provides shouts and bellows as counterpoint to Christmas’ croons and sighs. Together, they create a wonderful complement to the band’s soft vs heavy dynamics. Persson only takes the lead on the mournful “Approaching Transition,” with a haunted and watery gurgle for most of the track before he finally fills his lungs and explodes with a roar.

As for the music, it’s as cinematic and thrilling as Vertikal, and works with a very similar palette. If you loved that album – as I did – then you can consider this a satisfying reprise. Once again, Cult of Luna has found catharsis and beauty in crescendoes and crashes, and in the layered murmurs of each deep and atmospheric track. Christmas’ vocals ultimately make the greatest impression here and bring the most life to another gloriously desolate and hypnotic journey – one I’ll be making many times throughout the year.

And Epsitemology is soooooo close.

Even with Obsidian Claw now fully in charge and taking over vocals from Thebon (though you’d be hard pressed to tell in either blackened rasps or the clean vocals), the band is instantly recognizable as KoK, keeping in line with the last three albums, as Epsitemology (loosely meaning theory of knowledge and philosophy, and the album’s central concept) delivers glossy, epic, searingly melodic, synth laced black metal that’s commercially digestible but still black enough to have a little bite.

After the throwaway intro “Cosmic Revelation”, Epsitemology, as with the last few albums, opens in grand fashion and with more than a bang as the 10 minute “The Spiritual Belief” belts out a downright grandiose, furiously melodic track that borders on Wintersun like intensity and delivery with a chorus to simply die for. My initial worry that the track’s vocals were entirely clean and would signal clean vocals for the entire album were laid to rest with “Dark Divinity”, another furiously fast but epic track, with a little more edge and riff based structures that shows drummer Vyl is on a goddamn mission on this album.

Then as seems to be the M.O. for Keep of Kalessin, we seem to get a bit of a lull with a couple of more standard choppy, stuttering thrash numbers, “The Grand Design” and “Necropolis” (which seems to just really go nowhere for its last 2 minutes). Sure, they give you a break from the bombastic salvos (and give Vyl a break as well?). However, “Universal Core” returns to the blistering salvo and majestic blasts and let’s be honest that’s what KoK does best and why you listen to them. Because when they are ‘on’ and in this mode, they can’t be fucked with.

Penultimate track “Introspection”, the album’s first single, is a safer song, balancing both the band’s styles, but the album ends as it starts with the lengthy, monster title track that mixes the band’s trademark majesty and swirling tempered Middle Eastern hues, again showcasing how good these guys can be, but still often delivering some filler. But man, those two bookend tracks, “Divine Divinity” and “Universal Core” make Epistemology worthwhile alone and show Obsidian Claw and Co. are perfectly capable of carrying on KoK‘s sound with often jaw dropping results.

1349 may be the perfect representation of relationship dynamics at work over the course of a musical career.  At first things were new and exciting with Liberation and Beyond the Apocalypse.  They were raging and passionate affairs.  Bold and aggressive even within the underground.  It was a raw, unbridled love that you wouldn’t bring home to mother, or the mainstream of underground fandom.  But, you might be able to fix them up and make them star material.

Then Hellfire landed like an engagement ring.  It was all that fiery passion you knew in the beginning but polished enough you could introduce them to your friends and co-workers.  It was multifaceted, just palatable and impressive enough to parade around at parties, and the hot new thing you could be proud of showing off to your acquaintances.  You really thought you had something special built up over three years of solid releases you could be sure of.  This relationship was going places.

Then the horror struck.  You walked in on your love, your darling, 1349 screwing Tom G. Warrior in the production booth.  Revelations of the Black Flame wasn’t just a matter of getting cheated on though.  I mean maybe if the album was great, you could have had a nice black metal and progressive threesome together.  Instead it felt like getting cheated on with the most strung out crack whore that ever walked down a stretch of badly lit alleyways giving out hand jobs for squares.  The moment you thought you knew who each other were and were willing to build a future together, 1349 had an existential crisis and left you sobbing in front of your family and friends while they were scoring cheap junk in an act of artistic self-destruction under the pressure of success. 

They came back just a short time later with Demonoir.  It was both an apology and an integration of everything they learned on their sabbatical from musical sanity, but it was too little too late.  Though it may very well be their most mature and brilliant record, as a listening audience we were just too afraid of getting hurt again.  The album came too quick for us to forgive them leaving us at the altar.  The message expressed in its musical nuances and philosophical quirks were more than we could safely feel invested in without being afraid of getting burned again in front of our message board peers.  The album didn’t get the respect and attention it probably deserved upon its release.

This brings us to the current album Massive Cauldron of Chaos that comes after a four year wait.  It’s a long break for a band whose hallmark was exceptional productivity in their early years.  Hellfire was released nine long years ago.  Much as a relationship evolves from its early fire into a something both more but different, 1349 has put out an album that retains much of what made them great in the beginning, but has a sense of control, mastery, and creativity that speaks to a maturity they’ve built over time.  The midlife crisis of Revelations is long past and this is the most straightforward record since Beyond the Apocalypse.  It’s also just as good as anything else they’ve put out.

Much like a long relationship as well, it’s easy to take how good this record is for granted.  I thought it sounded good, but didn’t come out and grab me on the first few listens.  Yeah, it was fast, there were some ripping guitar lines, but Raven’s vocals weren’t quite a scathing as in the past, Frost’s blasting not quite as exciting as a decade ago, and the brittle production of the early years is replaced by what is actually a fantastically warm recording.   Though it wasn’t immediately as gratifying as I wanted it to be, I kept finding myself putting it on, not being able to get away from it.  Listen after listen it just kept getting better, and revealing more variation and intensity that went by in a blur on initial listens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=027yEq9UUeU

The album opens with the bludgeoning “Cauldron” making statement right away about what you can expect from the record.  Trademark blasting and biting riffs tear away at you with the type power you would expect from their early years. The second half of the chorus bursts with a furious riff that’s a statement that the band has not let up on the aggression whatsoever.    “Slaves” sees Frost giving a pummeling marathon double bass performance under solidly thrashing guitars.  “Exorcism” burns with a resentful mean streak and sees Archaon showing off why he’s a vastly underrated guitarist, with an almost Trey Azagthoth like spacey solo that really makes the track stand out.  The band hits again and again with tracks that seem to have a chip on their shoulder.  Frost even gets in on the songwriting with “Golem,” a minute and a half grind blast that feels like 1349 momentarily channeling early Napalm Death.  That leads cleverly into “Chained” which opens with a riff that saunters with a kind of black metal John Wayne swagger while showing confident and skilled songwriting chops.   Closer “Godslayer” displays all the aggression you know and love but also includes textural nuances and layers in the presentation that shows a band that has found a balance between their solid black metal roots and their expanded toolset of sounds.

This is a record that should bring back into the fold those that lost touch with the band in previous years.  Hopefully they can continue the success of this record and build on it without spiraling out of control next time around.

7-minute opener “Against the Grain” gives the listener a good idea of what to expect, with shades of mid-era Opeth and the progressive melodic death of Iron Thrones. Keyboards lend depth to the sound and the clean vocals layer with textured harmonies. Sindre Nedland’s clean vocals are a major selling point to this album; they are clear and powerful without becoming overly theatrical or cheesy. Those acquainted with Solefald will already be familiar with his vocal talents.

The second track and a real standout, “Image of Time,” tightens things up and utilizes a more standard pop structure very effectively, beginning with some heavy, melancholy Insomnium-type riffage and harsh vocals before a clean bridge with vocals somewhere between Mikael Akerfeldt and I.C.S. Vortex’s clean vocal work in Dimmu Borgir. The chorus has some scratchier vocals and a melodic tremolo riff that reminds me of the folk-oriented black metal of Catamenia.

Following that, “Southern Shores” is an instrumental track that sounds straight off of Still Life. “Hymne til Havet” dials up the folk influences in what sounds like a metallic arrangement of a traditional Norwegian song and features a classic-sounding solo.

As is a common pitfall, the album presents its best songs first, leading to less engaging material. While not a bad track by any means, the 8-minute mid-paced and repetitive “Culmination of the Enigma” falls flat after the interest and diversity offered by the first four tracks. “Times of Yore” is heavier and focuses more on the band’s black metal influence, but also lacks the dynamic presence of the earlier tracks, with the exception of the absolutely blazing solo 3 and a half minutes in. These tracks require more patience and a different mindset – one that is not cultivated for the listener early on – undermining what might otherwise have been more rewarding.

The album doesn’t return to form until the penultimate “To the Core,” one of the heaviest tracks, featuring the clean vocals in the forefront during the latter half. The album’s indulgence comes to a conclusion in the 9-minute closer “Floating on the Murmuring Tide,” a truly epic song featuring a monolithic melancholy riff, an acoustic break and…yes…a saxophone solo, but one that works.

At the end of the day, I’m unsure where I come down on this album. The fantastic vocals, complex layering and superb song writing are all there in spades, but the shift at “Culmination of the Enigma” makes for an off-balance album. There are so many ideas here that Ænigma kind of collapses under its own weight. It’s 57 minutes long, and feels even longer. If In Vain could have reigned themselves in a little and made some judicious cuts, they would have had a true, unqualified winner.

Stylistic quirks aside, at heart Vreid are still very much a black metal band.   It’s just that they are no longer willing to rest on their laurels and be restricted by lazy categorization.  Subsequently the ‘rock’ quotient of their sound has been ramped up and a thrashy, traditional heavy metal vibe snakes its way through the album, further diluting their once predominantly blackened template.     Regardless of genre preferences Vreid’s song-writing chops continue to shine, ensuring their continuing change in tact has not resulted in half-baked arrangements or blatant courting of mainstream audiences.   These songs are fully fleshed-out rockers, front-loaded with deadly hooks and the variety and crunch to keep you clambering back for more.   Icy sheets of black metal blanket burly rock influences and the aforementioned thrashier, heavy metal tone.    Vocally, Sture’s biting, blackened rasp is firmly entrenched in the black metal realm even amidst the bouncier riffs and upbeat rock grooves.

The mid-tempo, blackened gait of “The Ramble” begins with an atmospheric soundscape before unfolding into an instantly catchy double bass-backed riff and galloping rhythm.    The scorching “Way of the Serpent” is an urgent, swirling vortex of blast beaten fury, catchy hooks and frosty riffs encased within a tight, dynamic structure.   The song is an absolute gem, featuring Vreid in all their glory and firmly reminding fans old and new that they haven’t forgotten or abandoned their black metal roots. “The Devil’s Hand” and “The Reap” will have the purists sharpening their knives, largely abandoning the taut, feisty black metal of the opening couple of tunes in favour of a driving rock base and thrashy groove.   But thankfully the catchy anthems are rippling with energy and meaty hooks, upholding the band’s integrity whilst delivering a pair of belting metal tunes.

The ambitious “Sights of Old” is the longest (at 8.39 minutes) and undoubtedly one of the more interesting songs on the album.   The song flows seamlessly even as its tone changes dramatically about halfway through.  The sinister melodies and blackened, thrashy mayhem of its opening half morphs into an extended jam; featuring gorgeous, restrained guitar noodling, warm percussion and soft, alluring melodies.   Questionable spoken word vocals tarnish the feisty black ‘n’ roll grooves of “Black Waves”, before the versatile “At the Brook” steadies the ship with a slow-building rise, stomping rhythm and a refreshingly aggressive edge. 

Welcome Farewell is a terrific album that successfully takes Vreid’s black ‘n’ roll formula to its next logical step.  And where Vreid travels creatively from here is anybody’s guess.   Perhaps they will continue to deviate from the black metal path or repeat themselves through a string of similarly produced and musically inclined efforts.  Either way, as long as they continue to write quality, addictive metal songs, I’ll be on board.

For once, the band’s biography that comes with the promo actually describes the music pretty flakkin’ accurately. As stated, “It’s aggressive rock, borderline metal and dangerously catchy! The Black Metal references are there, but first and foremost this is a modern Rock Album!” Word, and let’s go into detail why this PR description is actually so accurate. By the way, three songs on this album are re-recordings of their earlier incarnations on Djerv’s 2010 Headstone EP, namely “Headstone”, “Ladder To The Moon” and “Immortal” (they are some of the catchier songs on this record too, no coincidence I think).

When it comes to the issue of having female vocalists in the male-dominated realm of hard rock and heavy metal, the general bias towards them is that their vocals cannot possibly match their male counterparts’ in terms of aggressiveness and power. Bullshit, I’ve heard male power metal vocalists who sound weaker than Agnete Kjølsrud, (one of whom is Dark Empire’s Brian Larkinand). Being Djerv’s frontwoman and ex-member of Animal Alpha, it is amazing how both bands don’t receive the attention they should be getting when Agnete has such a one-of-a-kind voice. Her voice sounds scratchy, not cat claws scraping across the chalk board kind of ear-piercing scratchiness, but the kind that sounds as though she had a drop too much of Jack Daniels: nasal, rough, warm, and powerful. The skill with which she wields her instrument is impressive too, because she can maintain a consistent strength to her trademark deep voice despite frequent and quick changes in pitch. Listen to the chorus of the straightforward hard rock anthem, “Headstone” and you will hear what I mean; she switches from semi-monotonous, shouted vocals in the tenor range to singing a few notes in the higher range of alto all within the space of a second.

Furthermore, the brash confidence she exudes simply makes her singing style so irresistible. As she lets us know right off the bat at the start of the opening track, “Madman”, we are all in for some: “MMMAAAAAADNEEEEEEEEEESS!”

And then it’s time to talk about the black metal influence, which is without a doubt my favorite part of this album. The nefarious energy of metal’s grimmest sub-genre can be felt in every track to some extent actually, often through the tremolo picking done by the secondary guitars in the background; and less frequently through ambient introductions that reminds one of blackened folk metal bands (such as Agalloch and Drudkh) on tracks like “Ladder To The Moon” and “Immortal”. The tremolo picking comes through most clearly on a few tracks though. In particular, keep an ear out for the seventh track, “Abmuse”. Not only does it open with a foreboding barrage of double bass kicks coupled with an ascending note sequence played with tremolo picking; right after the climax, it evolves into a Deathspell Omega tribute of sorts, sending the familiar Silent Hill-esque chills down your spine. Another noticeable moment would be past the halfway mark of closing track “Immortal”, where the tremolo picking is as obvious as the irony in Foo Fighters winning the title of “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance” during the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Welp, if you’ve got friends who can’t seem to get into black metal, try and coax them with Djerv first. They might just warm up to black metal soon enough.

Feb 16th 2010 was the day I got Blackjazz. Here I sit Feb 14 2012 reviewing Live Blackjazz. Two year old songs released as a live album? What’s the motivation to get this disk? For one, The older pre 2010 material is reinvented for Shining‘s new persona, and works even better. For another, this is a live album from a band that really shines live.

I first heard Shining back in 2002 stumbling on them through Jaga Jazzist, where Jørgen Munkeby spent seven years. It was there he was exposed to the electronic pop side as well as smooth jazz. Munkeby started out emulating Jan Garbarek then Coltrane. Drummer Torstein Lofthus is the only other founding member. The Norwegian Academy of Music teacher has been on the drum stool throughout Shining’s metamorphosis, and the drumming on display is top notch, worthy of his name in the credits. I can imagine jazz purists hating on his efforts here, unfounded I must say.

So leap forward to 2005 when Shining really established their new direction and take Meshuggah and Emperor and Olivier Messiaen and throw them into the mix. Think Messiaen when you listen to “Healter Skelter” and “Goretex Weather Report”, think Meshuggah when you listen to “Exit Sun.” By 2010 they had a name for their style. “The idea was to set a name on the music we played, and make it the name of our record. Just like the Ornette Coleman record Free Jazz, or Venom´s Black Metal. Up until then everyone asked what music we played, and we could not answer, but now we can. We play Black Jazz.”

Complex arrangements, odd time signatures, frequent time changes, short dissonant phrasing, long wandering linear compositions, intense energy, bombastic solos, all hallmarks used in both jazz and metal, yet for decades I’ve encountered a wall in people’s minds, jazz on one side metal on the other, and never the two shall mix. In Shining you’ve got progressive rock, which was heavily influenced by the likes of Ayler, Coleman, Miles Davis then add back in jazz influences directly, everyone from Basie to Braxton, add to that the progressive black of Enslaved and Emperor, which is itself influenced by progressive rock acts like King Crimson and Yes, and therefore linked back to the jazz greats, so anyone out there that says Shining is not jazz is pretty dense, and probably has a strong distaste for Peter Brotzmann.

I am one that has always said the jazz fusion label should have been changed to rock fusion because all those bands, Weather Report, John McLaughlin, Graham Bond, Tony Williams, etc. all those guys recorded and played with jazz icons yet the music they were putting out was more rock and soul than jazz. So here we have Shining, a self proclaimed metal band that comes out of the jazz scene, and not just by way of fusion and progressive rock, but by way of studying jazz full time at music school. They even signed with Indie Records, a known extreme metal label, an act that would offend jazz purists if they were still paying attention, because signing with them would align them more fully in the metal sphere. So after more than a decade of performing at jazz festivals and having albums named jazz album of the year have they finally turned to the dark side, the correct side, and despite the fact they have performed to 80,000 fans, should we as metal fanatics allow them into our club?

So since this is a live set of their favorite songs from throughout the later half of their career it makes sense to discuss that evolution. Lets get the rest of the ‘sounds like’ list out of the way. Slayer, Dillinger Escape Plan, Sun O))), Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Meshuggah, Nine Inch Nails, Emperor, Bach, Weather Report.

First thing is that programming and arrangements are often complex. The music is always intense and hard driving, but even at its harshest extreme its jazz foundation shows through. To this virtuosity and progressive rock complexities, add in some third stream classicism. Metal fans will find many things to hate. Jazz fans will find many things to hate.

So now we should discuss this DVD. Several of the songs are spot on and a few are streamlined for the live set. The older songs are updated. Some of the intricacy is lost live but not because of a lack of playing ability but from the ramped up intensity of the live set. Add a few more musicians and they could pull off their more intricate compositions as originally written. I count myself a fan of the early releases and would have liked to have heard “Herbert West-Reanimator” and “Small Steps” reimagined for today’s vision. I have been listening to Shining since 2002 and yes I still listen to the first two albums. “Stalemate Longan Runner” is another gem that could stand the re-polishing treatment.

The cd tracklist is “Fisheye” (the single version), “The Madness and the Damage Done” (from Blackjazz), “In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster” (from Grindstone), “The Red Room” (from Grindstone), “Goretex Weather Report”(from In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster), “Winterreise” (from Grindstone), “Exit Sun” (from Blackjazz), “HEALTER SKELTER” (from Blackjazz), “21st Century Schizoid Man” (from Blackjazz). The DVD includes “Omen” (from Blackjazz), and “RMGDN” (from the vinyl edition of Blackjazz).

“Goretex Weather Report” combines moody solos with electronic repetition and heavy rhythmic guitars. Linking it all together is a simple engaging riff and the power of Lofthus’ drumming. “In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster,” is an ungodly heavy, slow punishing number that screams metal. Heavy guitars and punishing drums infused with an undercurrent of notes that pick at your innards and ooze a twisted delight. “Winterreise” is a symphonic frenzy that exudes metal with a third stream classical middle section. Sheer power and a ferocious delivery melds into a beautifully jagged dark classicism. “Fisheye” is heavily built around one huge riff and intense blasts of saxophone shrieks, all of which are held together by the synth. “The Madness and the Damage Done” is opened with a ferocious vocal delivery filled with repetitive riffing that rips through you as much as the incessant screaming. The keyboards really shine. Wait for the final minute. And don’t bother thinking of Neil Young‘s “The Needle and the Damage Done.” The impossibly complex “Healter Skelter” is a straight forward extreme jazz piece with monstrous guitar and frantic saxophone that has Peter Brotzmann’s name all over. This version of King Crimson‘s seminal “21st Century Schizoid Man” comes from a request for a cover song. The guys in the band were asked to cover this song and said they did not really know King Crimson. It is quite obvious they have respect for the band now, this marvelous rendition is sure to infuriate all King Crimson megafans out there, which is what a cover song should do. The original was chaotic, Shining’s version is easily the most penetrable song on the disc. And then there is the amazingly intense and brutal 10 minute long “Exit Sun” and the 20 minute long “RMGDN” that closes out the show in mesmerizing fashion thanks in no small part to the schizophrenic synths that would have extended Weather Report’s career if Zawinul had thought it out. Too bad it is only on the video. Also only on the video do you get the full onslaught of a nearly thirty minute instrumental tear that features seamlessly flowing “The Red Room” into “Omen” into “Goretex Weather Report” into “Winterreise” into “Exit Sun,” where we get some vocals half way through. Along the way Munkeby tears it up on sax, guitar and flute, a true highlight of the show. Do what I did, rip the audio from the dvd.

The DVD clocks in at one hour thirty-eight minutes, about forty minutes more than the cd, and features multiple cameras, tons of close ups and excellent sound quality. And of course the usual light and smoke show. All in all a quality presentation of outstanding music. Blackjazz would have made my 2010 best of list but I was still thinking of them in a jazz context. They signed to Indie Records because of the various black metal bands on the label and because the label would push their name in metal circles. Good enough for me, I put Live Blackjazz on my 2011 best of list. Welcome to the metal world.

Before I delve into the inside I’ll give a nod to the outside, nice Renathe Bryn cover art graces us with its presence. Now lets pop open the case and get to the prize. If you think Viking metal is drunken caroling around a campfire clinking glasses and raucous choruses you, thankfully, are in the wrong place.

At once you will find that this is not the same mindset that replaced Rune with an upbeat happy Ragnar, nor is it the get back to harsher Norwegian Native Art style when Frode dominated vocally. The vocals are harsh, low, and more in the realm of chanting than the melodic singing that has plagued folk metal of late. Einherjer could be labeled both Viking metal and Folk metal I suppose but Folk metal has evolved so far away from the scope of trendsetters Einherjer that the moniker no longer fits and Viking metal has become a catch all term for lyrical themes instead of a singular musical vision. This album seems like an attempt to pull back the transgressions of the past decade and return Viking metal to its darker more sinister beginning while still employing some epic Bathory grandeur and copious ‘folkish’ melodies that Einherjer are rightfully known and respected for. In other words it is business as usual for Einherjer, ignore all trends.

Do everything without flash, it’s never been about high speed picking. For example there is a great acoustic-led ballad, majesty Bathory style. Their melodic sensibilities are intact but toned down a bit, not center stage full time. The rumble of drums and crunch of rhythm guitar assert themselves with great regularity.

I still think Rune was the perfect Einherjer voice but Frode does what he does quite well. A bit harsher even this time. The clean vocals have a rough edge, which is appreciated, and the chants/chorus parts therefore have a ritualistic aspect instead of the folk metal drink along aspect. This time out all in Norwegian for the first time. Vocals are lower in the mix than on Blot.

It is always a pleasure to hear prominent bass guitar. The guitar tone is lower, the distortion is greater, and the bass is louder, all playing into this darker, rougher portrayal, something Einherjer obviously has had success with in the past. These are not anthemic songs, they are moody and ritualistic. What really sets the tone for the album is not the sound quality or the understated vocal delivery or the guitar tone, but the fact that they put up a thirteen minute song as the album intro, powerful song, excellent statement.

I like it better than the swansong of 2003 and it sounds like a band refreshed and ready to romp but I’m not yet ready to place it on par with the great Dragons of the North and earlier incarnation. Of the six songs several are very strong and a few not so. Favorites are “Norrøn Kraft”, “Varden Brenne” and “Malmting”.

“Norrøn Kraft” is thirteen minutes long with a slow pace and sparse phrasing. It is totally absorbing. Distorted guitars carry the load, often notes are allowed to decay completely without overriding the sound with more notes. The ‘clean’ backing voice carries a haunting aspect that I’d label spiritual. The melody at the ten minute mark is pure Einherjer. On “Naglfar” they are on the march, the ship approaches out of the fog. “Alu Alu Laukar” is harsh gang chanting and pointedly simple drumming, and it gets monotonous. A guaranteed pit pleaser. Half the crowd will shout along while the other half beats each other’s snot out. “Varden Brenne” is Quorthon magic. Very effective use of backing vocals, nice 70’s style guitar leads, yes it works. The layers of vocals drive this song but if stripped out this would still be a keeper as an instrumental. “Malmting” at once sounds quite familiar. It’s 1993 all over again, only Rune is missing. The extended instrumental ending is fabulous mood altering stuff that really sets you up for “Balladen Om Bifrost”. This song puts Bathory back in Viking metal. It will give you goosebumps, all you upstarts pay attention, this is how in integrate a chorus.

It is great to hear them do an album that I’m sure is not what most fans were hoping for, and I think the band is more vital and vibrant for doing so. If you love the darker, blacker side of the back catalog this disc is for you, and if you prefer their lighter, more folkish side dig in as well, both are represented with distinction on Norrøn. They are still willing to kick jesus in the ass but now they want to do it without tongue in cheek.

Norrøn is the old friend you have not heard from in eight years and after forty one minutes and twenty two seconds it is like you never parted company. So look up an old friend and bring along this disc as a gift.

Now, I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say Borknagar’s last two albums (Origin doesn’t really count) after Andreas Hedlund (Vintersorg) joining the fold, have never matched the bands early Garm and ICS Vortex years, even with main man Øystein Garnes Brun still in the fold, delivering unmistakably Borknagar styled riffs. And the fourth Hedlund fronted album stays the course set by the likes of Empiricism and Epic: Recognizably Borknagar and a solid album of pseudo progressive black metal that won’t taint the bands name and legacy, but nothing that transcend the bands early brilliance.

I really can’t find any faults with Universal other than it seems to be a virtual continuation of Empiricism and Epic. But I can’t really find anything that stands out either. It’s just… Borknagar. Deft layers of Brun’s riffage that balances slightly folky melodic black metal and progressive textures with Lars Nedlund’s (Solefald) keyboards and Hedlund’s rasps and regal croons (which still don’t sound ‘right’ after Garm and ICS’s landmark performances).

The seven lengthy songs (notably opener “Havoc” and “For a Thousand Years to Come”), encompass all that is good about Borknagar: the sweeping organic yet futuristic black metal riffs, injections of proggy Hammonds and of course Hedlund’s voice. But I can safely say, other than once exception, I’m not really blown away by any of them. Though, I enjoy them all. “The Stir of Seasons” is a nice little folky number with flutes and a relaxing gait, but the only track that really grabbed me was closer “My Domain”, another slower number, but one that features the return of ICS Vortex and vocals, imbuing a grin inducing, welcome return to the vibe of The Archaic Course and Quintessence. Not to knock Vintersorg, but since he joined the fray-Borknagar and Vintersorg are interchangeable (listen to the Heldund penned “Abrasion Tide”)

I have to wonder why Borknagar are no longer on Century Media after so many years and why Indie/The End delayed the release of Universal from last fall till this spring, and then released it relatively quietly. It may be — dare I say — because despite yet another solid offering, Borknagar seem to have run their course and are no longer the A-list band they once were.

“Part I: Turn Away” pits tribal drumming against a repeated sequence of droning, crashing guitars. Thick, growled vocals – a deeper version of Grutle’s gargled rasp – join in as the storm builds, along with crackles of feedback and noise. The trance intensifies over its 9-minute running length, and can be summed up quite simply: Enslaved meets Neurosis. So far: intriguing.

“Part II: The Silence” is much less introspective, using a jagged, misshapen riff to form the main structure. Again, intrusive squiggles of feedback are used to gouge and fragment the repetition. The song becomes much more interesting when a slower strummed motif comes in, joined by chug and whispered vocals. Then, when a muted version of the original riff begins cycling beneath the other elements, “The Silence” becomes a track worthy of Enslaved‘s catalog. It wouldn’t be out of place on either Below the Lights or Monumension, and it’s my favorite track on the album. “Part III: Make No Mistake” also sounds like it could have come from those albums’ sessions – it’s frantic, savage black metal, although the feedback and noise continue to assert themselves over what would otherwise be a fine song without it.

So far, Fe-mail‘s contributions have been seemingly limited to these minor explosions of noise and feedback. Perhaps Trinacria is aiming for chaos and cacophony, but I find that the noise does nothing to enhance the songs, and only serves to pull you out of whatever groove or reverie they’ve managed to create. Then again, I’m not the biggest noisecore fan.

Fe-Mail does bring a lot more to the table with the title track, which I assume was the piece that started the entire project. Soft ambience builds into a richer post-rock expanse, with a French horn and angelic female vocals dueting in the background while Grutle’s rougher vocals rumble along overhead. It’s an interesting piece – the horns are the most notable touch – but it’s far from the most gorgeous or engaging piece of post-rock I’ve heard.

Ultimately, Travel Now Journey Infinitely is an interesting excursion, but nothing really all that mindblowing. I found the feedback and noise elements to be more distracting than anything else, and would have much rather preferred a gentler, more ethereal touch in their place. Perhaps if the experience were more expansive and trancelike, it’d feel like something special. As it is, the best tracks on here come off like Enslaved B-sides. That still makes it mandatory listening for Enslaved fans, and recommended for fans of experimental and black metal, but overall, I was expecting more from this.

Don’t worry, Vertebrae is just as unapproachable to mainstream music listeners as Frost so no one can throw around the sell out tag. Until they switch to verse chorus verse structure and whine about relationship issues they will still be relevant to metal fans but how relevant depends on your tolerance for bending the boundaries. The list of bands that have moved on to critical acclaim and left me behind is a long one with the likes of Amorphis, Anathama, Therion, My Dying Bride, Arcturus, etc. yet Enslaved moves more and more toward Pink Floyd, a band I have always despised, and I am still here. I think they could record the theme song to Sesame Street and I’d like it. They still remember their origins. No matter how far afield they wander they are always grounded by deep musical roots. After listening to this album I felt the need to pull out Phobia. I swear elements in use today were swirling around in their heads even way back then.

If I rattled off my top twenty five Enslaved songs only one is post Mardraum, and once again nothing off this album will get a spot so I have had to do what many fans do, split at Mardraum, post and pre, and start a new list of favorite songs, to which I think “Reflection” might just join the ranks with “Sigmundskvadet”, “Queen of the Night”, and “The Cromlech Gate” on the tail end of the list.

The first song on Vertebrae that caught my attention was “New Dawn”, and my favorite song would have to be “Reflection,” just amazing. Honorable Mention, “Center,” with its rougher vocals interesting melodies and effortless flow. After living with this disc for a while I have come to the same conclusion I always do. Enslaved are the kings of extreme metal and I am too dense to remember this. I’ll have to erect a rune stone to that effect here in my dooryard so I don’t have to go through all this brain warping next time.

After writing this review I went to the Enslaved website to snag the cover art and discovered this gem: “Vertebrae is a travel through the history of the band, looking both back to the roots of grim black metal and into the future of progressive melancholy ala Tool and Pink Floyd.” That is really all you needed to know.

Wielding a design of assorted metal genres, these greenhorns achieve an amazing sound. There really isn’t a prominent category to assign The Latter Rain. You can hear black, death, doom, Viking, jazz, and even horns throughout the record. Think an orgy of Opeth, Emperor, and Enslaved, which produced an atrocious baby named In Vain. It is really a beautiful mix. The doom elements are surprisingly more striking in this release compared to their first EP Wounds. Astonishingly melodic, “The Midnight Hour” starts The Latter Rain off with slow doom ridden chords, which are soon overcome by a dazzling swell of emotional layered guitars and ambient screams. This song alone displays In Vain’s epic proportions.

Guest appearances from both Jan K.Transeth (In The Woods) and Kjetil Nordhus (Green Carnation) only add to the impressive sounds laid before us. Lead vocalist A. Frigstad handles most of the vocal duties and while most of his voice is very doom/death oriented two other members of the band attribute beautiful clean vocals and black metal screams. Honestly, I don’t know who is singing what because they layer the vocals so much in each song. That’s one of the things that make this band so damn enjoyable. The clean choruses step into Viking like chanting material and it’s melded perfectly between all the members. A lot of the clean breaks in the music are triumphant as shit and sent chills down my spine on numerous occasions.

Guitar players J. Haaland and E. Fuglestad are quite accomplished already in their writing. Solos are executed wonderfully, very classical with plenty of arpeggios, finger tapping, and sweeps. With all that you’d think they are speed players that are showing off. Not even close. These solos are very stylish, mature, and melodic. The emotion just pores out of these guys. Most of the sound is reminiscent of Opeth, but this band is far from a copy. It’s the jazzy thing.

To be successful in metal today, bands must cross genres and do it well. We are too damn finicky as fans nowadays. Once a band conquers a sound, it inspires bands in the future. In Vain are on that path to greatness. There’s plenty of growing they will do in future releases I’m sure, but if this CD doesn’t show enormous potential I don’t know what will. The band is full of creative inspiration that just flowed out of them on the original EP and it continues with The Latter Rain. It’s enough to make me very excited.

Recently, In Vain was given the opportunity to tour with Vreid in Europe. Along with a new debut album, a label, and an amazing sound I believe we have only begun to hear from this band. At least I hope. Do yourself a favor and look for The Latter Rain.