HIMINBJORG - Golden Age

[Black Winter Day]

Adipocere
www.adipocere.fr
www.himinbjorg.fr.st
2003

1. The Opening
2. Death of a King
3. The Galleries of Time
4. -
5. What Was...
6. ...And to Fight Forever
7. Him


There's something to be said for a band who knows when too much is too much. Here is an album that wouldn't be half as good if it were 72 minutes long instead of 38. Shelving any and all filler material, HIMINBJORG offer us blazing Viking metal that is a bit short on length, but not short on quality. If this thing were 70+ minutes long, I gotta be honest... I probably wouldn't have given it more than a couple listens.

As it is, this is a pretty strong mix of blastbeat-BM and epic-styled Viking metal (a genre that seems a bit doomed in 2004... good thing this one came out in 2003). Clean vocals for the most part, although there is a fair share of "dirty" (hey, it's the opposite of clean, right?) rasps... nice melodies, pounding drums, good stuff.

Reccomended, especially if you've said to yourself more than once: "Man... I really want to see what's going on in the French Viking metal scene!"

7.2/10

Black Winter Day

 

[J.]

so they deserted the sound of Haunted Shores, eh?

 

[Black Winter Day]

Well a good portion of it is prett fast. I take it that the previous album was more mid-paced?

 

[J.]

yeah, mid-paced with lots of clean vocals and very astral sounding

 

[Doom]

I might pick this up, and hopefully they haven't abandoned the Haunted Shores sound, because that album was fantastic.

Can't be too much of a depature if there's still plenty of clean vocals.

 

[Krilons Resa]

their earlier stuff was awesome.

 

[JayKeeley]

I might pick this up, and hopefully they haven't abandoned the Haunted Shores sound, because that album was fantastic.

Yes, Haunted Shores was fantastic, but to me it's because it was different to their other/earlier stuff. As you know, it was kinda astral, spacey, 70's proggy, black viking metal. The new one to me sounded more like their pre-HS stuff, but I only skimmed through it. It didn't appear to be so obviously progressive, and if it was, someone like BWD would have picked that out in his review.

BWD - have you heard Haunted Shores? At minimum, track down an MP3 of "The Olves" -- great, great song. You would love it the most. Alternatively, I can send you a CD-R.

 

[Erik]

"Third" and probably "Haunted Shores" to a lesser extent is supposedly like Tiamat "Wildhoney" in places, dreamy/spacey and shit. The first two albums are kickass viking metal.

 

[JayKeeley]

Interesting - seems like they re-released Haunted Shores and Third on to one CD...

 

[Erik]

Should pick that up sometime. JayKeeley, have you heard either of the raven albums? Mike has "In the Raven's Shadow," I have "Where Ravens Fly" and they're both really good, "...Shadow" probably a little better.

 

[JayKeeley]

Should pick that up sometime. JayKeeley, have you heard either of the raven albums? Mike has "In the Raven's Shadow," I have "Where Ravens Fly" and they're both really good, "...Shadow" probably a little better.

I got Haunted Shores first and so thought that all Himinbjorg would sound like that. When I heard the earlier stuff, I dunno, I thought it was all a bit one dimensional in comparison....

 

[Erik]

Huh. You probably just need to listen to it more because one-dimensional it is not. Really. Lots of clean parts, really epic songwriting... I like it a lot. By the way, you're listening to Destruction... Hey let me tell you how they opened the Wacken gig:

1. Curse the Gods
2. Mad Butcher
3. Nailed to the FUCKING Cross

Now if that isn't a quality fucking way to open a concert I don't know what is.

 

[JayKeeley]

That is amazing. I cannot imagine what the crowd reaction was like, especially with them playing on their home turf. You know, I saw Destruction play in a small venue in Brooklyn co-headlining with Kreator on their Violent Revolution tour. What a gig!

Yeah, re: Himinbjorg, to be honest, it's really the Haunted Shores sound that sold me on the band. So everything after that (even Third) just didn't quite cut it. I wonder if this will work the other way round - honestly, Haunted Shores is quite the departure. You might not like it.

 

[Black Winter Day]

As you know, it was kinda astral, spacey, 70's proggy, black viking metal.

BWD - have you heard Haunted Shores? At minimum, track down an MP3 of "The Olves" -- great, great song. You would love it the most. Alternatively, I can send you a CD-R.

!!!

Yeah. Let's trade some CD-Rs, whaddaya say?

I'm going to go ahead and send you that vinyl, the friend I usually depend on to burn CDs is out of town (re: Deathspell Omega). I'll make sure to do it when he gets back, though.

Anything else you can think of that you'd like to hear? Seriously, you never know what I may have...

 

[JayKeeley]

I'm going to go ahead and send you that vinyl, the friend I usually depend on to burn CDs is out of town (re: Deathspell Omega). I'll make sure to do it when he gets back, though.

If there is anything you ever need, just ask and I'll rip a copy. I have CD-Rs coming in from both BloodStainedWalls and Erik (including the deathspell omega) so let me settle in with their stuff before I get back to you with my 70's requirements.

Go ahead and send the vinyl whenever convenient (the autographed one, ha ha). I'll send you what you need in the next promo batch, including this Himinbjorg which should give you a semi-hard on.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Sent the vinyl today!

 

[JayKeeley]

Sent the vinyl today!

Sweet - thanks. Can't wait to hear it!