Asenblut - Aufbruch

Band: Asenblut
Album: Aufbruch
Year: 2009
Country: Germany
Genre: Pagan Metal/Black Metal

Tracklist:

1.	Wolf	04:06
2.	Gedanke & Erinnerung	03:42
3.	Heldenbürde	04:07
4.	Klingenschmiede	03:17
5.	Herbststurm	03:43
6.	Die Legende	05:18
7.	Ein Monument	04:27
8.	Kampfruf	04:31
9.	Asenblut	04:11
10.	Von des Verräters Untergang	05:01
Total playing time		42:23

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Nidhøgg - Siegeszug Der Götter

Band: Nidhøgg
Album: Siegeszug Der Götter
Year: 2009
Country: Germany
Genre: Pagan Metal/Black Metal

Tracklist:

1. Siegeszug der Götter 05:09
2. Till Death we Stand 04:18
3. Storm of Fimbul 04:53
4. Jomsvikingar 05:03
5. Der Tod des Baldur 05:16
6. Saga von Tyr 04:59
Total playing time 29:38

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Hromovlad & Slavigrom - Perperuna

Band: Hromovlad/Slavigrom
Album: Perperuna (split)
Year: 2009
Country: Slovakia
Genre: Pagan Metal/Black Metal

Hromovlad and Slavigrom are probably the most interesting Slovakian Pagan metal bands today, and finally they have made a split together.

The album opens with the song “Vodou Zivot Prekvita” the perfect opening song, especially the beginning, an epic and majestic opening giving me great expectations for the album. The song develops into a fast and atmospheric pagan metal song after a while. The second track sounds more like a folk/black metal song with the use of chants and ethnic instruments, which gives the album the variety it needs. The third track is a slow folk metal song. The fourth track is nothing special, but so far Hromovlad has done their part well.

The next four tracks from Slavigrom are all fast Pagan/Black metal songs without any particularly interesting parts, it is not bad or anything, but they don’t manage to follow up after Hromovlad, making their music sound a bit boring, but still a good band.

Buy the record: http://depressiveillusions.com/

Yggdrasil - Vedergällning

Band: Yggdrasil
Album: Vedergällning
Year: 2009
Country: Sweden
Genre: Folk Metal

Yggdrasil is finally back with a new album, for a long time this album has been anticipated by many of you, and it is up to you to decide whether or not it meets your expectations, but I will still review it for you as always.

For those of you who have not yet heard Yggdrasil, they play Swedish Folk Metal, melodic and perfect for head banging, though they sound quite raw at some points. They play fast and hard, sometimes accompanied by traditional folk instruments. The vocals change between raw and clean. Most of the songs have fast drums and guitars that play more melodic, accompanied by a violin and the voice of Gustaf Hagel, this is a setup that works quite well and manages to make eight good songs.

The album is very good, and I advice all of you to get this, my expectations were met, and I think most of you will be satisfied with the result as well.

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Pagan Blood - The Last Empire

Band: Pagan Blood
Album: The Last Empire
Year: 2009
Country: France
Genre: Raw Pagan Black Metal


Pagan Blood is a French Pagan Black Metal band, following the tradition of bands like North, Pagan Blood plays quite traditional Black metal with a hint of atmospheric elements, without any synth and fancy instruments to achieve this atmosphere, a method that I personally prefer, as I usually think all these atmospheric elements can ruin the album.

The production is raw, something that suits this album very well. The same thing can be said about the vocals, even though they can be hard to hear over the band sometimes, as they are unclear and of course in French. The guitar and drums are fast and hard, but still manage to be quite melodic at some points, without ruining the raw and dark atmosphere.

The album is very good, and I recommend it to all of you who like Pagan Black Metal. The album is promising, and I hope to hear more from this band. I know that they have released a demo previously, but I can`t find it. If anyone finds it, please let me know.

Buy the record: TrollZorn

Dragobrath - And Mountains Openeth Eyes...

Band: Dragobrath
Album: And Mountains Openeth Eyes...
Year: 2008
Country: Ukraine
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

Dragobrath is a Black metal band from Ukraine with Pagan influences. Their style is a mixture of aggressive riffs, melodic black metal and some atmospheric/pagan metal. Their lyrical themes are Paganism, Nature and Carpathian Mythology.

The music is mainly traditional black metal, it is quite raw but with the fast and aggressive riffs Dragobrath manages to achieve a monumental and powerful atmosphere. The vocals are quite good, and varies a lot during the record, between classic growling to vocals inspired by bands such as Burzum, some parts even have clean vocals. The album is never boring, as it is a lot of variation and new atmospheric elements that are added during the album. The album is good, and I recommend it, it is not very original, but it is never boring and manages to do what others have tried and failed to do with style.

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Wyrd - Kalivägi

Band: Wyrd
Album: Kalivägi
Year: 2009
Country: Finland
Genre: Pagan Black Metal

Wyrd is a Finnish pagan black metal band formed in 1998, at the time known as “Hellkult”. Kalivägi is their eight full length album, and quite different from some of the previous albums.

Wyrd is obviously inspired by doom metal, the slow and melancholic sound gives the album an atmosphere quite different from many other Finnish metal bands that tend to have a more cheerful folkish sound, this is the exact opposite, even though some of the songs are more inspired by traditional folk metal. On some places classic rock sounds is combined with the music, an addition that actually works well. I am not saying that this is not Pagan Black metal though, it most definitely is. The rasping voice and guitars is what makes this album what it is, in addition to the various atmospheric elements, like a keyboard, chanting and acoustic guitars. This is a quite good album, I recommend everyone to listen to it, some of the old Wyrd fans might be a bit surprised of the changing style, but I would say it is for the better.

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Buy the record: Amazon