Månegarm

I initially became a fan of Månegarm after hearing their ‘Vredens tid’ album (which I still think is one of the greatest Viking metal albums ever made).  After that, I began checking out the rest of their catalog and was impressed by just about everything I heard, the one exception being their ‘Legions of the North’ album, which was just OK.  I was hoping that, with their new self-titled album, the band would regain some of the steam that they lost. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case.  It’s not that this is a bad album, it just sounds like the band is rehashing stuff that they’ve already done.  You’ve got a few acoustic folk songs mixed in with the metal ones, you’ve got some female vocals mixed in with the male vocals, and you’ve got a mix of harsh and clean vocal styles.  In all fairness though, Viking metal is one of those genres where there’s only so much you can do before it starts to get a little repetitive.  I think this album will probably grow on me over time, but overall, this isn’t exactly their crowning achievement.

Release date: 20-10-2015
Reviewer: Lee Naylor
Score: 6