Asguard – Wikka
This Dark Reign – TDR-19
By Josh Phillips
After finding a surprise hit in Asguard's latest album, Dreamslave, I was quite interested in hearing this band's roots. I wanted to see how they've grown and become the band that released a solid album like Dreamslave. This led me to Wikka, the album that preceded Asguard's latest and thanks to at least one (un)reliable source, *cough* circus_brimstone *cough*, I was expecting to find on Wikka, a band still searching for their sound. At the least, a raw album that only showed flashes of what was to come.
Fortunately, as the instrumental title-track burst on, those thoughts were washed away by the sheer guitar wizardry of Andrey Tselobenok and Oleg Maslakov. It could certainly be classified as nothing less as we see the band romp through a two-minute medley of thrash that kicks off the album with a bang. As the album picks up, we see Asguard continuing to mix styles as they would on other releases, melding perfectly elements of death, thrash and black metal into one of the most melodious, yet vicious metal sounds out there. The band transitions from pummeling to sorrowful almost flawlessly as they tease us with melancholy harmonies, tossed into the eye of a hurricane of riffs. Alexander Afonchenko's thumping bass is high in the mix and adds a punch to the album that is offset, yet complimented by his spitting black metal style vocals. This musician is in top-shape on Wikka and his rhythms are the backbone of this release. Afonchenko builds the foundation for the music and allows the guitarists to fly off the hook with rabid riffs and solos. Drummer Yurchenko Yuri doesn't fall behind and his unique style is a joy to listen to. He has a great way of punctuating riffs with thunderous symbol strikes and he only enhances the record.
The music ranges from fast, thrilling and soaring ("Wikka", "The Vision of Dream"), to dark, brooding and sorrowful ("The Ancient Track" and sprinkled in many others) and comparisons to Coram Lethe and Anata ("Under Azure Skies") are warranted. This is certainly the band that wrote Dreamslave, but Wikka lacks some of the spacier elements of Asguard's latest release and is instead a more raw, straight-forward album. The band also experiments with a great death-metal oriented track entitled "...An Eternity" to end the album and we get to hear Afonchenko use a deeper bellow that is otherwise rarely heard. As the song is one that was written earlier, it may also hint at some of Asguard's ideas for the band back in their demo days. No major changes are there, but it's a rollicking piece to close the record as strongly as it began.
...Or so we thought. There are actually an extra six unlisted tracks on this re-release of Wikka by This Dark Reign Recordings. It's a nice bonus and the songs fit well with the rest of the material on the album. The first piece is an introspective, slower song like "The Ancient Track" that picks up midway through and leads to some excellent guitar work. After a weird, yet interesting track that apparently features "Afonchenko a cappella," things get back to normal and Asguard continues to unleash quality music. The unlisted songs are a nice addition that sends the record to over an hour of solid music, packed with original tunes and an equally cool cover of Judas Priest. Great stuff.
AND, as if that weren't enough, I received a second disc with the Black Fire Land album on it. Featuring 5 original songs plus a demo track, "War", which is also found amongst the final tracks of Wikka, and a Manowar cover. The music dates back to before Wikka and is more epic in scope at times, but still showing bursts of thrashiness that are key to the Asguard sound. Much more in the black metal vein than later output, but it's easy to see the musical evolution that led to Wikka and you can see the same evolution on the next disc and how Dreamslave began to take shape.
Across three releases by this band, they've been consistent and extremely good. Wikka and Black Fire Land stand alongside Dreamslave as some really amazing music and Asguard continues to climb the list of my favorite bands. One of the only projects on the planet that can actually mix the various styles of extreme metal successfully, I give my congratulations to Asguard.
8.75/10
Official Asguard Website
Official This Dark Reign Recordings Website
UM's review of Dreamslave
This Dark Reign – TDR-19
By Josh Phillips
After finding a surprise hit in Asguard's latest album, Dreamslave, I was quite interested in hearing this band's roots. I wanted to see how they've grown and become the band that released a solid album like Dreamslave. This led me to Wikka, the album that preceded Asguard's latest and thanks to at least one (un)reliable source, *cough* circus_brimstone *cough*, I was expecting to find on Wikka, a band still searching for their sound. At the least, a raw album that only showed flashes of what was to come.
Fortunately, as the instrumental title-track burst on, those thoughts were washed away by the sheer guitar wizardry of Andrey Tselobenok and Oleg Maslakov. It could certainly be classified as nothing less as we see the band romp through a two-minute medley of thrash that kicks off the album with a bang. As the album picks up, we see Asguard continuing to mix styles as they would on other releases, melding perfectly elements of death, thrash and black metal into one of the most melodious, yet vicious metal sounds out there. The band transitions from pummeling to sorrowful almost flawlessly as they tease us with melancholy harmonies, tossed into the eye of a hurricane of riffs. Alexander Afonchenko's thumping bass is high in the mix and adds a punch to the album that is offset, yet complimented by his spitting black metal style vocals. This musician is in top-shape on Wikka and his rhythms are the backbone of this release. Afonchenko builds the foundation for the music and allows the guitarists to fly off the hook with rabid riffs and solos. Drummer Yurchenko Yuri doesn't fall behind and his unique style is a joy to listen to. He has a great way of punctuating riffs with thunderous symbol strikes and he only enhances the record.
The music ranges from fast, thrilling and soaring ("Wikka", "The Vision of Dream"), to dark, brooding and sorrowful ("The Ancient Track" and sprinkled in many others) and comparisons to Coram Lethe and Anata ("Under Azure Skies") are warranted. This is certainly the band that wrote Dreamslave, but Wikka lacks some of the spacier elements of Asguard's latest release and is instead a more raw, straight-forward album. The band also experiments with a great death-metal oriented track entitled "...An Eternity" to end the album and we get to hear Afonchenko use a deeper bellow that is otherwise rarely heard. As the song is one that was written earlier, it may also hint at some of Asguard's ideas for the band back in their demo days. No major changes are there, but it's a rollicking piece to close the record as strongly as it began.
...Or so we thought. There are actually an extra six unlisted tracks on this re-release of Wikka by This Dark Reign Recordings. It's a nice bonus and the songs fit well with the rest of the material on the album. The first piece is an introspective, slower song like "The Ancient Track" that picks up midway through and leads to some excellent guitar work. After a weird, yet interesting track that apparently features "Afonchenko a cappella," things get back to normal and Asguard continues to unleash quality music. The unlisted songs are a nice addition that sends the record to over an hour of solid music, packed with original tunes and an equally cool cover of Judas Priest. Great stuff.
AND, as if that weren't enough, I received a second disc with the Black Fire Land album on it. Featuring 5 original songs plus a demo track, "War", which is also found amongst the final tracks of Wikka, and a Manowar cover. The music dates back to before Wikka and is more epic in scope at times, but still showing bursts of thrashiness that are key to the Asguard sound. Much more in the black metal vein than later output, but it's easy to see the musical evolution that led to Wikka and you can see the same evolution on the next disc and how Dreamslave began to take shape.
Across three releases by this band, they've been consistent and extremely good. Wikka and Black Fire Land stand alongside Dreamslave as some really amazing music and Asguard continues to climb the list of my favorite bands. One of the only projects on the planet that can actually mix the various styles of extreme metal successfully, I give my congratulations to Asguard.
8.75/10
Official Asguard Website
Official This Dark Reign Recordings Website
UM's review of Dreamslave
