Unleash the Fire

It’s been about three years since their first album; finally the Dutch barbarians are back with another and after listening to it, I deem them to be as competent as ever. Continuing with a style that could perhaps be described as Ensiferum meets Amon Amarth, ‘Unleash the Fire,’ is, for all intents and purposes, just as godly as the debut, ‘For Death and Glory.’

On ‘Unleash the Fire’ you’ll find everything that was golden on their last album; the shredding death metal guitars, the skin-ripping drums, the sweeping brass and harpsichordish instruments courtesy of the synthesizer, the clean vocals and manly choirs, the rich harsh vocals, the original, melodic composition of the songs, and, of course, the awesome historic/fantastical lyrics involving the strength of heroic barbarians and the like.

One could argue that they used essentially the same formula on ‘Unleash the Fire’ as they did on their debut. Personally, I’m glad that they did. That formula relied on originality; each of the songs on this album, as on the previous album, are infused with a freshness that reeks of quality and keeps them enjoyable and, as on the previous album, in choosing a favourite song, every one is fair game. On an unrelated note, ‘Unleash the Fire’ has more violin.

If I happen to prefer their debut by a small degree, it is merely due to the pure novelty that I associate with it, after all, experiencing Thronar for the first time is undoubtedly incomparable. ‘Unleash the Fire’ definitely meets the standard Thronar set with ‘For Death and Glory.’ I highly recommend both albums as you should not deny yourself the pleasure of either one. (I have been looking for this album ever since its release and eventually I found it in the iTunes store. Not the same as owning the CD, but still worth it.)