Warhammer

If the band is named „Asgard”, there's a high chance that it will be yet another viking metal band. Actually, there are 24 bands of such a name in the Metal Archives, so it's definitely not a best name for the band if you want to stay unique or original. Ok, jokes aside, this particular Asgard comes from Peru and plays... viking metal (huh, surprise, isn't it?).

It's a one man project of Viking Wolf, musician of the Lord Sangiunary and Penetrator Hammer. While his past bands seemed to be closer to the typical black metal and satanism, Asgard is definitely more into everything you'd expect from underground viking/pagan metal music. So, no black metal shrieks and buzzing music, but rather clear vocals, melodic guitars and lyrics dedicated to the norse traditions instead of some dark satanic anthems.

It is a demo with a very typical demo quality. Everything is listenable and understandable, all right, but do not expect any kind of higher quality – everything sounds like being played and recorded from some distance. It reminds me of the days when people often recorded their materials in garages. I would say that the best thing on this material are guitars. They are melodic, not badly played and properly tuned. Vocals are fine too, mostly clean, sometimes low, sometimes a bit higher, but nothing really highly pitched, rather more sublime, just like in the opening track „”The return of the barbarians”. Drums are... well they're present and that's all I can say. In general, everything reminds me a bit of Bathory from their viking era mixed with the quality of their first albums, maybe a bit more obscure and primitive.

There are fifteen minutes of music and four songs. Some have a bit more viking sound, being melodic, slow and sung with an exalted tone, like some kind of hymns. I guess more studio work could make some of these tunes nice and maybe even a bit catchy. There are two differences. „Aryan Pride” song is definitely faster, it somehow has a more RAC feel than viking metal itself. „The Sword Defends my Legacy”, the last track on this material, is probably the most interesting one, with some vocal changes and longer musical passages, making this song a bit different than the rest. Definitely, the best song here.I guess this could be a way that Asgard might take.

Well, I wouldn't call this material something amazing or even really good. It's just a medium quality demo. There is some potential – it's not boring or annoying, but it definitely needs some studio polishing, better sound, maybe some more musical ideas and it'd make a solid material of its kind at last. Certainly, this genre is quite crowded, so it's not easy to create something original here. So, Asgard's demo should be taken as just the beginning of the road, and maybe we can hope to hear something better from this project later.