| Thundra �Blood Of Your Soul� Spinefarm, 2000 Tyrant: Thundra play extreme Finnish Viking metal and featuring ex members of Einherjer. Blood Of Your Soul generally sits in a mid paced tempo with a blend of big folk riffs and blastbeats as well as more melodic moments guitars and acoustic passages. The prominent vocal style switches between a black metal rasp, deeper throatier growls and clean epic vocals reminiscent of Einherjer and Borknagar. Keyboards float seemingly unnoticed in the background for the most part but come to the fore occasionally, most prominently on the albums two excellent musicals. The lyrics feature the usual Viking fare presented in illiterate English, but the songs are well put together and catchy enough to stir some ancient pagan pride and battle glory anyway. Less 'black' than Enslaved, and less 'folk' than Isengard, Blood Of Your Soul sits more in the realms of bands like Thyrfing without all the pompous synth. Its a mix that works well and bodes a promising future for the Finns. Favorite Tracks - With Power And Might , Blood Of Your Soul , Frozen Ground Mark - 8/10 Thundra �Worshipped By Chaos� Black Lotus, 2006 Tyrant: After a lengthy departure Thundra return with a good follow up to their debut album though listening to Worshipped By Chaos you would hardly notice that six years had passed. WBC follows on in a smiliar vein to Blood Of Your Soul with blackmetal inspired riffing mixing with heavy folk metal riffs whislt the percussion fills out the sound with double kicks blastbeats and rolls. The vocals again switch between the sickly blackmetal rasps of Thor Erik Helgesen and the growls and epic clean vocals of Steven Grindhaug creating a dynamic at times multilayered attack. The only noticeable deviation in form is a slightly cleaner beefier production and the absence of musicals on WBC. Lyrically the band again focus on battle frequently but from a mainly introspective point of veiw making for a different more emotion driven take on the genre. Standout tracks include the brilliant opener 'On Thorns' which features the bands catchiest vocal passage yet and 'Symphony Of Anguish' which has more synth in it than the rest of the album combined. Overall WBC is in all ways an equal of its predeccessor so if you were a fan of Blood Of Your Soul than you'll like this album too. Favourite Tracks - On Thorns ; Hatred Declared ; The Existing Darkness Mark - 8/10 |
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