Ren Marabou & The Beserkers "Holy Mountain(Helgafjell)" Album Review

     The incomparable Viking Metal/Norse Gael Heathen Tribe Ren Marabou & The Beserkers  have been unleashing consistently quality releases,originally started as a solo project during the dark days of lockdown, after the release of the excellent Sagas album Ren would recruit Michael Casserly(on Bass Guitar) and Terence McCann(On Drums) and would release their second Opus the magnificent Tales Of Rune,the band even got to do a tour with the legendary Polish Acts Vader and Hate which unfortunately they had to cut short due to a family bereavement,ever since then the band concentrated on writing the highly anticipated follow up to Tales Of Rune,which has now come to fruition with the absolutely phenomenal Helgafjell(Holy Mountain),which is a whole lot darker and heavier then previous offerings,let's dissect the finer details of this stellar opus.

    Launching straight into The Journeys Of Rig the relentless drumming really sets the tone on this song while combining Melodic and heavy riffing while the bass drives the relentless drumming,the vocals varition between clean and aggressive adds alot of passion and controlled anger to the track making a brilliant way to open the album, Ran's Hall is a really heavy mid paced offering full of melody and a really dark atmosphere, we're treted to a really cool intro on The Price Of Glory with tribalistic drumming and some beautifully orchestrated Violin before seamlessly transitioning into a proper Groove laden guitar Riff,it becomes more noticable that the clean vocal delivery has got a slight bit darker then the opening two tracks which only adds more heft and darkness to the overall atmosphere.

    A Dark atmosphere and an absolute riff fest are what's unleashed  with the brilliant Curse Striker while been extremely dark there's also an element of beauty to this track with  the soaring leads which has a really epic atmosphere like you're taking part in some sort of pilgrimage/adventure, Gramr The Bloodstained Beast is possibly the fastest track on the album ,there's an almost Thrashy feel to this track,again this displays some absolutely stellar lead Guitar work, things get that bit more heavier with the crushing In The Hall Of Gimle there's some subtle elements of Sludge which add an extra bit of Heft to proceedings. another quality offering with Live And Die By The Sword were we're treated to some really epic song structures  full of atmosphere and heaviness on top of melodic riffing,this is possibly the darkest track on the album and creates an even more passionate aura,the leads on this are phenomeal and have a really anthemic feel to them.

  The Hefty Riffing on The Duel Of Flint and Steel has some really killer Groove elements and explores the story of Viking Brethren drinking too much Mead and Fighting in Valhalla like some sort of game of one upmanship, Idunn The Ever Young switches between fast paced instrumentaion to soaring and passionate Vocal passages creating yet more epicness to proceedings,closing track the absolutely mind blowing Epic Heaviness of Helgafjell(Holy Mountain)  has some personnel heartfelt story behind it ,as mentioned before this tells the story of a family bereavement and has an extremely dark atmosphere combined with fantastic musicianship making it possibly the best song the band have ever written.

 

   Not only has Helgafjell(Holy Mountain) shown the true capabilities of this band it's a massive progression from the excellent Tales Of Rune,this is not me blowing air this album is more then worth it's weight in gold,the band have reached a pinnacle were hard work and passion get justly rewarded,i will add WormHoleDeath  knew what they were doing when they announced the signing of Ren Marabou & The Beserkers to the label,always had a feeling something special was going to be unleashed and to my delight the band have delivered a monumental opus full of fantatsic story telling ,musicianship and fantasticly created atmosphere throughout.

RATING: 9/10

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LadyAxe "Of Hell and High Water" EP Review

  Nowadays Traditoional Heavy Metal acts have the polished production, the massive sound but on the rare occasions an analog, lo-fi sound captures the atmosphere,honesty and passion needed to create something truly worth investing your time in and getting lost within the music,this is the case with the always brilliant LadyAxe, the Metal Matriarch is originally from South Africa but has since re-located to the Emerald Isle and it has brought a fire and passion that sounds unquenchable.

 Following on from last years excellent Kairos album Of Hell and High Water tells tales of Irish Pirate Queen ,Finnish & Norse Mythology,Lovecraftian Tropes and Lore with each topic all related to the sea,the EP starts off with a bang in the shape of the brilliant Mother Of Ships which portrays the tale of Grainne Mhaol ,The Irish Pirate Queen, the song has plenty of time changes and Riffs for days all layered under soaring and passionate Vocals, things get a little bit Doomy and Eerie with Finnish Mythology inspired From The Depths Come Iko Turso a story about the bearded monster who was commanded by Pohjola to attack the ship Vainamoinen,Iko Turso would be bound by a spell cast by Vainamoinen and may never surface again, within the song a New Priestess casts her own spell to unleash Iko Turso to serve her biddings, The Priestess Calls is a very haunting and atmospheric song which sounds like the spell that awakens Iko Turso from his spell,at time it almost sounds,suddenly near the end of the track we're treated to very dark and foreboding Guitar lead which sounds like the summoning has been complete.

  Time to get into some Norse Mythology with the absolutely epic masterpiece that is And I Saw The Sister Of Visund tells the fictional tale of a viking warrior abandoned by her Brethren and her Valkyrie failed to find her despite her dying in battle,she sees what she thinks is the Visund approaching but soon realises that it is in fact her Funeral ship, unable to get to Valhalla she vows to sail her funeral ship against the will of fate,the song has a very melancholic atmosphere and is reminiscent of early Manowar,this is also were you get a taste of what Axe is capable of vocally, the closing track on the EP gives us some Lovecraftian Lore in the shape of  Malediction From The Black Reef which always seems to fit well with Heavy Metal , this song is based on the Lovecraft Novel The Shadow Over Innsmouth where U-Boats torpedo the Black/Devils Reef and Dagon curses them to never die but they're trapped within the abomination that is Innsmouth,the track has a nice mid pace with powerful and passionate vocals delivering a track fitting to close such a brilliant EP.

  Of Hell and High Water may not have the big production,folk may think this method is better but what LadyAxe does is give you plenty of Atmosphere,Ethereal and Haunting Vocals,Passion and Honesty,something lacking in Modern Power/Heavy Metal these  days,also the bravery to incorporate different topics like Lovecraftian Lore,Norse and Finnish Mythology and Historical Pirate Queens gives you transparent idea that Axe likes to challenge herself by doing the research into each topic properly,where you don't get any filler on her releases,long may this continue because it works perfectly for me.

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