Isenmor - Land Of The Setting Sun (CD Review)

01.Death Is A Fine Companion
02.Pyre
03.Land Of The Setting Sun
04.So Willingly Deceived
05.The Old Mead Hall



Tim Regan (Guitar/Vocals)
Mike Wilson (Bass/Vocals)
Nick Schneider (Violin/Vocals)
Miles Waldman (Violin)
Jon Lyon (Keyboards/Vocals)
BG Drakeley (Drums)

American band formed in May 2014 when guitarist Tim Regan and bassist Mike Wilson’s search for violinists to start a new folk metal band yielded two highly talented fiddle players, Nick Schneider and Miles Waldman. Rather than choose between the two, both were taken onboard. Drummer BG Drakeley and keyboardist Jon Lyon joined shortly thereafter, completing the lineup.

First three songs are above average for this genre, yes there is lots of violins but the level of power coming from drums mixed with the heavy guitarwork, helps create the perfect folk metal balance.

'So Willingly Decieved' brings the mood down with a solid laid back melodic masterpiece, passionate vocals are backed with moody powerchords and beautiful violin performance.

As was to be expected 'The Old Mead Hall' is a great upbeat song, for dancing and moshing in equal parts!

A stunning little EP that breathes life back into a genre that has been flagging somewhat for a while now.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Turisas, Alestorm, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani

Miellnir - Incineration Astern (CD Review)

01.Incineration Overture (Intro)
02.Prey
03.Legends Of The Fallen
04.Stand Against
05.Journey Through The Nine Worlds
06.Ugar-buhlo
07.Embraced By Ire
08.Jörð
09.The Gallows Tree
10.Valhalla Awaits

Frozensoul (Vocals/Bass)
Gjallarhorn (Guitar)
Yarek Ovich (Guitar)
Daimonos (Drums)

Hailing from Ukraine, this pagan viking band formed in 2005, but only now have released an album, i have found no demos or other recordings or come to think of it any information about them either.
Delving a little deeper i discovered that 'Embraced By Ire' was first released in 2011, and so i assume that the other 3 tracks that follow were also from that same time as they are listed as bonus on the info i was supplied, but not it seems on the actual cd, get the feeling that the record company couldnt give a shit? I do !

Another pointless intro to start with and guess what? It goes straight into the next song, so why have it as a seperate first track???
'Prey' when it gets going is a good mix of styles, mainly symphonic black metal and with vocal style to match, in fact this is more like Dimmu Borgir than Turisas.

Now with 'Legends Of The Fallen' we get two very distinct styles from extreme metal to quite traditional pagan/folk metal.This one has a Thrash metal tempo in places and the timing changes match said genre, nice to hear some normal vocals blended with the growling ones.

'Stand Against' again this reminds me of Dimmu Borgir, not much in the way of viking/pagan coming across here in this mid placed almost doomy/symphonic piece.

What spolis 'Journey...." is the vocals, the music is a beautiful piano driven almost ballad melody, but the softly sung gruff vocal just kills it.

First real appearence of pagan/viking/folk on 'Ugar-buhlo', thanks to some great accordian playing, this mixes it up with full on blasts of metal, but works very well.

'Embraced By Ire', clearly an earlier track by the fact that the music is slightly rawer, yet musically there seems to be more instrumentation going on with various keyboard sounds utilised and a very nice guitar solo.

'Joro' is a bit of a bland track, does little to enhance the bands overall sound, but 'The Gallows Tree' returns to some quality symphonic metal and finally 'Valhalla' is borderline power metal with a hint of thrash.

Overall a really good and varied album, hpefully the record company will do more to promote it and the band.

Rating 9/10
For fans of: Dimmu Borgir, Amon Amarth, Turisas