Ereb Altor - Fire Meets Ice (2013) [Gorgatz]

Ereb Altor - Fire Meets Ice (2013) [Gorgatz]



- INFO -

EREB ALTOR impressed me mightily with last year’s “Gastrike”, and here we are barely a year later, and the Swedish Viking Metallers strike back with album number five, “Fire Meets Ice”. Hey, when the muse is a-callin’ you’d better comply, especially when that muse is Odin himself. The Raven God doesn’t suffer slackers, you know. Having already sent AMON AMARTH into battle not too long ago, He has now also sent His other finest sons to the front line to capture hearts and minds (and kick ass, of course). Wait... did Vikings have ‘front lines’?

Anyway, I digress. EREB ALTOR are back, and I’m most definitely not complaining. The thing that has always set these guys apart from the rest in this particular field is their impeccable song-writing chops. Not only do they expertly balance Black and Doom, they also skilfully side-step some of the more annoying Viking Metal pitfalls (i.e. superfluous intros and happy-go-lucky folk ditties). Their Vikings are marauders, not minstrels. Seeing as how their Facebook description states, rather succinctly, “Epic Scandinavian Metal in the vein of BATHORY”, this should come as no surprise.

Although continuing in the same stylistic tack as “Gastrike”, “Fire Meets Ice” also differs from its predecessor in a way. The aforementioned amalgamation of Black and Doom remains their bread and butter, but whereas their last album favoured the Black Metal elements over the more Doomy touches this album leans in the opposite direction. The aggression of “Gastrike” is presented in a more tempered form here. If “Gastrike” plunged you straight into the heat of battle, “Fire Meets Ice” opts for a more pensive mood, as the songs come across more like mournful paeans to battles lost and won (or, conversely, as hymns capturing the anticipation and anxiety of Vikings sailing towards battle). This change in tone is discernible right from the get-go as the opening salvo of the title track, “The Chosen Ones” and “Nifelheim” all lurch forward with a slightly restrained gait. The title track is especially memorable, gradually building from a subdued cleanly sung beginning towards a meaty Doom middle section, before finally letting loose with a savage blackened attack near the end. It flows incredibly well for a 9-minute track (it feels more like 5-minutes), and the emotive chants and clean vocals lend an almost spiritual atmosphere to proceedings.

This reflective ethereal tone is also evident on “My Raven’s”, where the ebb and flow of the rather mournful Doom riffs conjure up mental images of longboats sailing towards hostile shores. Viking Metal wouldn’t be complete without the cracking of shield and skull however, and so we have tracks like “The Deceiver Shall Repent” and “Post Ragnarok” that see the band spitting fire in a full-frontal Black Metal assault that shows the darker side of their sound. Good tracks, no doubt, but I have to say that I found the album to be most effective when the band opted for a more melancholy approach (i.e. the first half of the album). I also shouldn’t fail to mention that there are a few duds on here (“Sacrifice” and “Helheimsfard”). They don’t do enough damage to really derail the album, but it does cost it a bit in the way of consistency. For this reason the album doesn’t quite match the greatness of “Gastrike”, even though the first four tracks are easily some of the best they had ever penned. Still, if you’re looking for a band well versed in classics like “Blood Fire Death” and “Hammerheart”, then these guys will meet all your needs.

- T R A C K L I S T -

1. Fire Meets Ice 09:23
2. The Chosen Ones 06:30
3. Nifelheim 06:14
4. My Raven's 04:16
5. Sacrifice 08:10
6. Helheimsfard 06:35
7. The Deceiver Shall Repent 04:10
8. Post Ragnarok 04:33
9. Our Legacy 05:13

Bitrate: 256 k
Genre: Viking/Folk
Subgenre: Epic Viking / Black / Doom Metal
Size: 102.03 MB

Credit Goes To LaVey Of Rockbox