Hour of Ragnarok

Consistent and reliable, little experimentation and lots of atmosphere – these terms characterise Rob Darken’s artistic work at the latest since “Creed of Iron”. “Hour of Raganarok” features two musicians at this side, but the mastermind is still responsible for all important building blocks. He plays guitars and keyboards, he sings and he has written the entire material, music and lyrics. (To speak frankly, I fear the new guys aren’t more important than the two jesters that were represented by Quorthon on “Blood Fire Death”. Hopefully I am wrong!) Either way, Graveland is still Graveland and even some up-tempo sequences do not give the compositions an unexpected aura. Sublime, heavy rhythms, supported by partly fragile, partly powerful keyboards and often with a medieval touch control the sound of the work from the year 2021. This is nothing new, nothing spectacular, but still good, pretty predictable yet never boring. Rob has given the songs a comparatively broad range between pleasant melodies and valiant rage and so “Hour of Ragnarok” embraces the listener as tight as it can.

By the way, the album bears a subtitle: “The Twilight Symphony”. That’s a good name, because once again Rob has created an album where all songs contribute to a uniform work. Here we do not have eight songs that happen to form an album, but an album that stands on eight equally strong pillars. Therefore, we can truly speak of a kind of symphony and Graveland do a lot in order to keep the listener engaged. Rob does not even shy away from clear, almost pastoral vocals every now and then (“Children of Hyperborea”), but he does it without hurting the songs. Given his instinct, it comes as no surprise that he concentrates on his raw nagging in a dark and more or less violent outburst like “The Three Gifts of the Gods”. Here Graveland paint a truly sinister scenario – Ragnarok is not just a word, but the program and the motto for the album and especially this tune illustrates this fact.

Honestly, the melodies on this album do not sound very exciting. As mentioned before, they all originate from the same brain and they cannot hide this circumstance. This is not to say that Rob fell victim to self-plagiarism during the creative process. He just has his own style and that’s a fact he has not to be ashamed of. Instead, he can be proud of tracks like the stage-setting opener “The Wolf of Twilight” that represents all the pathos, the force, the drama and the fighting spirit of his art. Richard Wagner, sitting on a cloud somewhere over Bayreuth, will surely be impressed about the music of his Polish fellow. For good reason, because “Hour of Ragnarok” blends seamlessly into the enormous discography of Graveland. Even after all these years, I still enjoy their new outputs. And the great design of the vinyl makes it even easier to like the full-length, although this “hour” lasts “only” 50 minutes (little joke to finish off, sorry...). Maybe it's just better I call it a day now and we let Rob darken the sun.

Hour of Ragnarok: The Twilight Symphony is in my opinion both a grand new chapter of Graveland and a pinnacle of orchestrated pagan metal. Very atypically for Graveland, it bursts right out of the gates with a forceful and aggressive pace. You feel a sense of immediacy: the hour is here; we are already upon it.

Seasoned listeners of Graveland will instantly notice the live drums masterfully performed by M.Ahrin. They are in stark contrast to Darken's usually programmed drums. While I do enjoy Darken's programmed drums, they always felt a little awkward and “unrealistic” to me, despite carrying the tone and themes of his many pagan metal albums. Ahrin's performance however is very different, focusing primarily on “standard” metal blast beats and fills, but also retaining a considerable amount of bombastic quality that we expect from Graveland. As a drummer myself, I think the writing of the drums (presumably done by Ahrin) is impeccable. There is a lot going on here. The use of blast beats is expected, but the level of intricacy and ornamentation is just perfect for the complexity of Graveland. The new drums are the first and primary reason that this can be considered Graveland's new chapter.

Next we can discuss the orchestration. This is a staple of basically every Graveland album from day one, but certainly since Creed of Iron and onward. Darken basically pioneered this particular type of orchestrated pagan metal, steadily increasing the quality and orchestral realism on every release. On this album, he has truly become a master of this craft. The orchestration is top of its class in every respect: realism, composition, dynamics, presence (in the mix), diversity, and uniqueness. There are many metal bands who use orchestration. But you can just tell this is Darken. He has his own unique orchestral voice. Epic, bombastic, immense, and ancient. This is where the warrior's spirit shines.

Next, let's talk about the general song compositions. This is another aspect that gives it a fresh feel. The songs, while still epic, are a bit shorter than what we are accustomed to. They are generally faster. They are more economical. There isn't as much introduction and interlude time. This of course lends well to the theme of the album. A small (but truly trivial) point I would make here is a bit of abruptness between sections. Perhaps its the tempo changes or the general terseness of the songs, but I found it a bit jarring. (Perhaps this was intentional, as per the album's theme.) Either way, the song writing here is tremendous and innovative for Graveland. Certainly the almost sing-along (think epic marching song) “choruses” seem unusual for Graveland. Great! Have a listen!

The last new element involves the vocals. The majority of the album has Darken delivering his classic black metal rasp, a truly iconic sound. There is nothing new here, and there shouldn't be: this is Graveland. However, there are a couple of sections which use a new kind of sung vocals. This is very different even from the style of sung vocals we've heard on previous albums. I'm not sure if it's even Darken doing them, but they are live and very unique. They are mostly concentrated in the later songs, which have a bit more breathing room for “softer” pagan elements (see: Lord Wind). They are not used very often, but they and various other diverse folk elements add an ancient authenticity.

Finally, I will talk about the lyrics. It should go without saying that the lyrics should be followed as you listen to each song, as to fully absorb yourself in their character and intent. (It is, of course, basically impossible to understand anything Darken says due to rasp and pronunciation.) This to me was the crown on the top. I think all can relate to the sentiment of the age of ragnarok in which we are living. The lyrics provide (at least, to me) a cathartic release and mythological alignment of thoughts to our current era. I will not impose too much of my interpretation on them. But I think their messages are clear. Life is a battlefield. The ancestor's warrior spirit will guide you through all trials.

I've been listening to Graveland intently and following Darken since 2004. The one thing Darken represents to me more than anything else is consistency. He consistently releases music. He consistently improves his work. He consistently and heroically represents the ancient warrior values, always true and focused on the simple but massively important message.

Hail the ancestors! Hail Graveland! \m/

P.S. This was a review of the digipak release. I think this is well worth getting. The artwork is flawless and the quality is top-notch. It certainly completes the experience.

Ah, we all already forgot when Graveland made us happy with something really new: for the previous eight years, Rob Darken was too busy offering us his old works in new packing, i. e. with modern arrangement. Well, modernization is also a big deal, maybe. But "Hour of Ragnarok" is finally an actual new album.

So what do we have here? The label press release assures us that this is "music from the beginning of the history of Graveland," but in this case we can hardly speak of "returning to the roots." Well, if you manage to make out the guitar parts, then, of course, there is no doubt, this is the same good old Graveland with wintry minimalist riffs, warlike and atmospheric at the same time. The problem is that if there is any guitar aggressiveness on this album, then it is safely buried under a thick layer of keyboards. Graveland's previous "true" album, "Thunderbolts of the Gods" (2013), is pure guitar work compared to "Hour of Ragnarok".

Yes, keyboards are the cornerstone of the new Graveland album. They sound almost constantly. From the very first song, "The Wolf of Twilight", solemn and epic melodies, often dominated by folklore motifs, descend upon us. Sometimes even a pagan dance reigns in the songs (especially check out "Enlighted by the Wisdom of Runes"). We scarcely know what to say, it seems that Darken was so eager to transfer the pagan atmosphere for reenactors, who maybe seem to be more real pagans than his fellow musicians / black metallers, that he almost forgot about the metal component of his music. Of course, Graveland did not turn into Lord Wind, another Darken's project, but we can say that the "great merger" has begun. It is worth mentioning. that once upon a time Graveland and Lord Wind could not even be compared to one another.

Sometimes the guitar is given the chance to make itself known without the control of the keyboards, like in the beginning of "Hour of Ragnarok", this is the first appearance. However, that rarely happens, as if the keyboards are afraid to leave the guitar alone. Therefore, most often the riffs cannot be made out very clearly, you can only hear the buzzing of distortion from the guitars, while a distortion sound is not sharp or razor-sharp at all. Most likely, the synthesizer part duplicates the guitar part, so the guitar only pulses somewhere in the background. And, of course, there is no solos or licks, right, this is Graveland. Damn interesting, what would "Hour of Ragnarok" sound like without keyboards? Isn't the absence of sensible guitar riffs hidden behind the keyboards? the absence of really new guitar riffs? Let's hope it's not true at all, in the meantime, it remains to deal with what we hear.

It must be reluctantly acknowledged that the drums also perform an auxiliary function, although they are still audible on not so rare blast beat sections – submerged of course, as is common in old-school raw black metal. Everything is strictly according to the canons. By the way, you can tell from the drum sound that the production on the album is fairly clean (pay attention to the beginning of "Conspiracy of the Wizards" with intense fills), but the whole sound was processed in such a way as if the recording was made in the 90s. That's right, the muffled guitar and squashed bass (although sometimes the bass humming seems to be more noticeable than the guitar distortion) were handled deliberately poorly.

Because of these "peculiarities" of the album's sound, there is often a feeling that a metal foundation has been shoved under the building of the music of, for example, Mortiis – and this is how "Hour of Ragnarok" was created. Summoning, of course, is also remembered often (the most striking example is the beginning of "Children of Hyperborea"): in some measure this album is a kind of amalgam of classic Summoning and Graveland itself, which was mixed in modern conditions with retro imitation. And when guitars manage to force their way through the keyboard thickness, you can draw a parallel with the Viking Bathory material, but there are not many such moments (check "The Wolf of Twilight" and "Enlighted by the Wisdom of Runes"). There are far more sections in which the music of Graveland resembles the soundtrack of "Game of Thrones", most of all it is noticeable in the same song "Children of Hyperborea".

The vocals are the same old, Rob Darken's signature harsh and grating vocals. There are a lot of lyrics on the album, the voice attack continues continuously, ah, as if compensating for the lack of metal. In truth, it is the vocals most often that make the listener believe that they are listening to Graveland. But when Darken begins to sing in a clear voice ("Children of Hyperborea", "Following the Azure Light"), then you are inevitably lost. Nevertheless, these strange vocal pats sound very impressive and epic.

By a strange coincidence, the most interesting song is the last one, "River of Tears". Although it starts out as some pompous ambient piece, soon metal takes over the lead, and we hear a groovy rousing riff. In fact, it is the most guitar section on the entire album. Alas, as before, the guitar eventually loses its ground. But this is followed by an interesting rhythmic breakdown – militant, in some way completely uncharacteristic for the entire album. However, in any case, this is folk metal, this is pagan metal, and there is no black metal as such.

Summary. Those who expected a true return to their roots will no doubt be disappointed with "Hour of Ragnarok". This cannot be called a return: it is like watching the previously mentioned "Game of Thrones" instead of a classic black-and-white film. Well, nobody says "Game of Thrones" is bad, new time means new laws. But this is not a classic. For now, anyway. So "Hour of Ragnarok" is rather a (yet another) incarnation, not a return. It will not be possible to find any musical progress here either, right, this is Graveland. Nevertheless, Darken worked well, the album is listened to, as they say, in one breath. These are indeed pagan hymns. The question is solely about the keyboards, whether this is good or bad for you.

The Metal Observer