The German medieval metallers have been hugely busy the last few years, this being their sixth release in as many years. We sadly missed their last release but did get to review the awesome Fegefeuer and loved it. Being a pretty big fan of the band at this point, I have been eagerly anticipating this release, and knew I wanted to give it my full attention. Also, the hype around it has been pretty insane, so I really can’t wait to dive in!
The album opens with the insanely catchy album track. The party vibe that felt a little missing from the band’s previous couple of albums returns with a vengeance here in the best possible way, and makes for maybe the perfect album opener. The insanely catchy chorus opens things up, even having some growls to accompany it, while the verses feel almost rap-inspired, giving off Electric Callboy vibes as well as the heavy power metal. It still blows my mind that this didn’t go all the way in Eurovision, it’s easily the best song entered this year! Dang von SDP does a great job on the second verse, fitting the tone of the track perfectly. It’s a simple arrangement revolving around that incredible chorus, and is certainly an early highlight!
Up next is another single we are very familiar with, the Doro-featuring ‘Valhalla’. When we spoke to Ben this track had just come out, and we later filmed a reaction video to it. Of course, we love it! It’s a little more traditional folk/power metal leaning than the previous track, but still has a slight party vibe and a really call to arms feel. The guest once again does incredible, Doro not able to do any wrong really, and fits the tone of the track perfectly. And once again, it has a massive, arena-filling chorus that is so very catchy, being stuck in my head a lot since I first heard it. It’s the perfect power metal track, everyone working their ass off as every element is excellent. Another highlight for sure, and a track already on our playlist!
We got silly next, with a cover I never knew I needed and now can’t get enough of! I feel like I’m in the minority at this point who likes the original PSY version, but this is every bit as good! It transposes surprisingly awesomely to European metal, and the band once again kill it with the arrangement. It’s of course catchy as the original was a huge ear-worm, but heavy enough that it fits perfectly alongside the rest of the album! Probably not one for the serious metalheads out there, but I loved it and it’s yet again another huge highlight on an album chocked full of them so far.
The first non-single of the album, ‘Name der Rose’, is a jump back into the folk side of their sound. It’s similar to ‘Valhalla’ in its feel, and still has just as massive and catchy a chorus! The slightly slower pace also makes it feel a bit more ballad-like, which is hardly an issue! The riff for the bridge is also SICK. It does feel slightly more album-track than the previous songs, but that may just be because of the lack of guests or it not being a massive cover; it doesn’t at all reflect on the quality of the song. Another excellent track!
‘Testament’ starts with a dark, folky riff before the metal quickly comes in over the top. It has a similar tone and feel to it than the previous track, but on the faster side. It’s nice to hear them singing in German, it fitting just as well as their English tracks. They’ve not long started singing in English, I believe, so it’s nice to hear they still go back to their roots a bit, too! The same can be said for ‘Eisenfaust’ and ‘Tanz der Teufel’. All are primarily German-sung folk metal songs. All are fantastic, with the latter being another big personal highlight of the album, but are fairly similar and easier to lump together so this review doesn’t get repetitive and boring. I’d recommend checking out all three of them, still!
The next song (two of you count the intro monologue setting it up) has my whole heart. I LOVE Lord of the Rings, so to have a song about ‘Sam the Brave’ is amazing, and the tale fits the bands style perfectly. And the verses are in German too, which is honestly a bonus. The band switching between both languages is awesome! It’s heavy, folky and catchy as anything yet again, the band really finding their style and playing it to perfection again and again. It’s an amazing folk metal song, and yet another huge highlight of the album for me. I am desperate to hear this live, so I’m gonna have to go over to Europe, I think!
‘Drunken Dragon’ is another fun, catchy folk-metal track that has almost a breakdown in the middle which was awesome, easily making it one of the heavier tracks on the album. The same can be said for ‘Avalon’. Again, both are awesome songs that fit the style of the album and the band well. We even get a guitar solo in the latter, something that is surprisingly rare on the release. As I said before, the band are now so damn proficient at making incredible music in this vein that even the ‘album tracks’ are amazing!
The closing track on the album is the huge collaboration single, ‘Lords of Fyre’. The song was worked on hand in hand with Lord of the Lost, and very much feels like a 50/50 split akin to ‘RATATATA’. It has a gothic edge to it from the other band, while still having a distinct folk edge still. Plus, Chris’ low, powerful vocals fit perfectly alongside the other two’s. We also get an incredible extreme metal breakdown in the middle, complete with awesome riffing and some great screaming. And the fact that it drops out to just piano, violin and Chris’ vocals for the chorus is phenomenal, *chefs kiss*. It’s yet another insanely catchy song, another highlight and a truly epic way to close out the album!
Overall: This is everything I wanted from the album and somehow even more! Every song on this is amazing, and even with it being front-loaded with three massive singles, it still stays awesome and memorable throughout. The band have been amazing for a while now, but have really been gaining a lot of traction and momentum with these last couple of releases, and this has the real possibility to propel them up another step or two in the industry, into true international stars. I honestly cannot recommend the whole album enough. It’s my favourite release the band have put out, and will surely be being spun a lot in the coming weeks and months!
The Score: 9/10