Betwixt and Between

This CD is not what I expected but is dope! It's a very different style of Viking black metal than what I’ve heard before. There are only 6 tracks but each song is about 8 minutes long. The songs have a good combination of black metal screams and deep clean vocals.

"Skal Shanty" and "Mayborn Shore" are just folk instrumentals and they give you a break from the heavier songs. Skal Shanty sounds almost gypsey-ish and has acoustic guitar, an accordion, a maraca (it sounds like?) and male and female vocals in it. Mayborn Shore is probably my favorite of the two. It has a really good chord progression and the acoustic guitars have a very full tone to them.

Oakhelm delivers great melodious guitar work and sick drum work that consist of blast beats and double bass that has perfect variation so it doesn't get old. The only thing that is a little bit off are the screaming vocals, at times they sound a bit whiney, but is hardly noticeable besides a few times.

My absolute favorite thing about the album is the theme. The lyrics, album artwork and even the clips that are in between the songs all fully go together. The band recorded a rain storm with waves crashing against the shore, ravens crowing, and a lit campfire crackling. If you get a chance to see the full artwork that shows the back cover also you'll see that there is a group of beings around a campfire with ravens above and the front cover shows a Viking long ship with waves crashing against the shore. The lyrics of "Immram" tell of that long ship crashing against the shore after they see bodies littering the sand, in which are "a ravens feast". You truly recognize the feeling of the albums theme at the end of "As the Murder Flies" the melodic riff that ends the song is transitioned into an acoustic guitar playing the same riff as the drums and electric guitar fade away. Behind the acoustic guitar you hear it raining and you truly get the sense that the being on the back cover artwork are the one playing the acoustic guitar around the campfire.

Again this disc is not what I expected. The guitars are very melodious and drum work is good. The Viking theme is brought out with these melodies, the clean vocals, acoustic guitar interludes and especially with the artwork, lyrics, and sound clips. This CD is very different from what I’ve heard before and is for the best!