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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