Demo

I'm always interested in new Dutch metal bands, especially in the black and viking metal scene. Svidgar is such a new band. The members say themselves they bring a sort of 'Epic Viking Battle Metal'. I've never heard of Vikings from the Netherlands so historical correctness cannot be found in the band's lyrics, in the first place.

This first demo of Svidgar contains 4 tracks making a total of almost 15 minutes. The first thing what comes to my mind when listening to the demo is the fact that the drums sounds like a drum computer. That is strange since this demo is recorded with a real drummer (maybe too much triggering?). The screaming vocals are pretty OK, but sound very young and not so raw, like the vocals have yet to develope a lot.

Then the lyrics. These are almost pathetic and very thirteen-in-a-dozen. Singing about 'drinking on friends past away in battle', 'battle' and 'Norse mythology' may be very 'Viking' or 'pagan' (not in my opinion) but it isn't original.

The melodies played on guitar must sound folkish, but I think they sound boring and without any feeling. The melodies played on keyboard (mostly the same as the guitar riffs) are the worst of the whole demo. The sound is so cheesy it sounds like they come straight out of Donkey Kong.

So, the band isn't really special, just a mediocre metal band which goes with the whole 'I wanna be a Viking-hype'. This demo gets 20% because I want to give them another chance. I will wait for their second demo or first full length album to judge, maybe they made a big progress in the past time. This demo is too dull for words. It lacks the two major keys: talent and originality.