Goblin Island

What do we have here? We have Goblin metal here. And to tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure whether Nekrogoblikon is a parody inspired by bands like Finntroll and Children of Bodom or a sincere attempt at making music, with a sense of humour. Just kidding. Metal is certainly a diverse genre of music. People continue to take it into new corners. There's been ‘Viking metal’ and ‘Troll metal’, we’ve heard and enjoyed it and what people have made it. More recently, ‘Pirate metal’ appeared with bands like ‘Verbal Deception’ and ‘Alestorm’.

And now this.

…This Californian ‘Goblin metal’. Gimmicky? Check. Cheesy? Check? Fun? Check. Check? Check. ‘Nekrogoblikon’ isn’t terrible. In ‘Goblin Island’ they have some good fun, catchy melodies, decent keyboards, passable vocals, and ridiculous lyrics. Before you condemn Nekrogoblikon for their appearance and their songs like ‘Goblins are better than trolls’ give them a try for a laugh and you might discover that you enjoy… a few of their songs such as ‘In the hall of the goblin king’. There is also an ‘In Flames’ cover with a goblin twist, (Goblins of the black rain) and the power rangers theme song, (the goblin rangers theme) and a bonus techno track at the end which the song ‘Army of goblins’ is based on.

And lets not forget ‘Goblin Christmas Armageddon parts I and II. Part I is similar to their other songs, but part II seems more like the kind of music I would expect these guys to be playing. Pop. I admit; it’s fun to listen to, but hard to take seriously. I'm guessing that's what they were going for.

***TRIVIA***I actually pre-ordered this album because I'm that kind of guy... I sent Canadian money back when it wasn’t stronger than the American dollar so I drew a little goblin on my order form to smooth things over. When I got my CD it came with a little note that said “hope you don’t mind, we used your picture for our CD art” (not an exact quote). Well I suppose I had no choice. They didn't get my permission but... I hereby officially give my permission for that to be done (the picture on the disc of a goblin ripping off someone’s skin is now legally cool).