The international hordes known as Folkearth reuniting fourteen musicians from countries such as: Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Australia and USA. Viking's Anthem is their eighth full album since their 2004 formation.
If you look at the last couple of reviews I wrote about Folkearth, you could actually guess what will be said here.Yes, history repeats itself, one again. The first two releases were very good, but ever since, they seem to be in some sort of marathon to come up with as many albums as possible. Unfortunately, the end product suffers from this mass production. Viking's Anthem has still that good Viking vibe and the overall sound has turned into a heavier and crunchier style, while maintaining a nice folksy feel. Manly/beastie growls are sometimes backed by cleaner tones as well as nice female vocals by the angelic looking Anais. To create a folksy vibe, they used various instruments like: tin whistle, violin, cello, percussions, deger pipes and a touch of acoustic guitar. The main problem I found is the confusing use of two to three lead instruments simultaneously. For instance, when Anais sings, you can have lead guitars too or you can hear cello, violin and lead guitars playing their own different parts at the same time. This is not only confusing but it also creates a break of harmonies. This often happens during the folksier moments too, and it diminishes quite a bit the nice ambience those instruments are trying to create. Even if all the compositions are bearing those weaknesses, I was able to enjoy tracks like: "Ragnarok", "A New Day is Rising", "Warrior Code" and "Set Sails to Conquer".
I'm repeating myself here, but I wish Folkearth would take its time to compose great epic opuses as they did at the beginning of their journey.
Track listing:
1- Beats From the Blizzard
2- Ragnarok
3- There is no Death
4- Viking's Anthem
5- To Avalon
6- A New Day is Rising
7- Warrior Code
8- The Conquering Nightmare
9- Set Sails to Conquer!
10- Legacy of Steel
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
