The Temple Of Metal

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Well, here in The Temple of Metal we take care of your knowledge!! A question for you! What music plays a band that comes from Norway, sings in Norwegian mother tongue and pictures Vikings through storm in the front cover?

The first winner prize is a weekly stay in Valhalla’s luxuriant apartments, plus an educational tour in enchanting Asgard! For you that will be late in answering the above question, don’t worry! Make yourselves comfortable in Erik’s House somewhere in Greenland and have a couple of drinks with some Vikings! What do you think of that? Oh come on, it’s so easy... Hurry up! Odin awaits!!

Ok, more serious now. Arvinger play of course epic Viking black metal, which could appear magnificent and inspiratory if it was released in 1995. Till now many things have changed in this particular genre of extreme metal that makes our friends quite common.

Nevertheless, I found “Helgards Fall” a ravishing release. A new-formed band (sometime in 2001) Arvinger consist of Djern (vocals, lyrics) and Hauk, the mastermind of the band since he composes and plays all the instruments. The band completes as guest musicians a keyboard and a fiddle player and Elsie and Lilian contributing with female vocals which however sound too weak.

Despite the stormy intro of “Ut Fra Havn” (quite a middling though, there are much better songs in this promo) Arvinger prefer mid-tempo epic moments, where Viking-style vocals and black metal (quite typical though) screams, atmospheric acoustic parts, doomy soundscapes and very special use of fiddle, compose a very interesting melodic touch balancing somehow the aggressive side. Check magnificent “Tapre Krigere” and “Kalt Ved Navn”.

Moreover, the intense and fast, but always melodic moments and the imposing use of keyboards in the sound of old Satyricon and Enslaved, overtop the compositions. Folk-music seems to flow in the band’s veins and such tunes adorn “Helgards Fall” and not only in mild moments but generally you witness a Skyclad-like riffing. If you are interested in a mixture of Enslaved, old Satyricon, Mithotyn and Falkenbach with undoubtedly personal identity, check them out.

Chris Georgiou