Fi'mbulvintr

King Of Asgard

Skål! Grab your horn and let us drink beer or mead all of you mighty […]
By Manolis Alfieris
August 1, 2010
King Of Asgard - Fi'mbulvintr album cover

Skål! Grab your horn and let us drink beer or mead all of you mighty Vikings. Well, I could end the review here if I was about to describe the debut album of KING OF ASGARD entitled "Fi'mbulvintr" in one sentence. Epic melodies, majestic Viking atmosphere and killer riffs can be found here. Many of you may say that "Yeah, ok. Viking Metal is a trend nowadays and many bands emerge playing that style of music!", but hey, how many of them are really good having only released one demo and a killer album one year later? You guessed right, KING OF ASGARD is one of those bands... I know I may sound a bit too enthusiastic but better get to the point in order to understand why.

Featuring members of FALCONER, MITHOTYN and THY PRIMORDIAL you expect by default something quite killer at least. And more or less that is the fact. As I mentioned above expect only really good tunes and riffs here. I do not say excellent because as awesome as they may be, still they are not something new or unheard in the Viking Metal scene. Basically what you will find here is, allow me to say, a perfect combination of AMON AMARTH, the melodic parts of ENSIFERUM, the epic side of ENSLAVED & UNLEASHED and I also found some pieces of the old days of EINHERJER here and there. Trying to catch up with the lyrics throughout the CD (as I did not have any lyrics available) I, more or less, understood that they deal with Norse mythology and the Gods of the Northern European countries. No surprise in that. However few bands manage to do that with success and KING OF ASGARD is one of those. A plus to the whole records is that all tracks are in the right order. What do I mean? That each track completes the previous and is the best introduction let's say for the next one.

The album has a perfect sound. Or better the most suitable sound for that certain genre. This would not have been a fact without the engineering and co-producing of Andy LaRocque behind the consoles. The whole package is completed with a beautiful artwork by Ola Larsson which perfectly represents the whole album. Thumbs up for that one as it is one of the best ones I have seen in quite a time!

In conclusion, I wanted to say that earlier but I will say that now. I enjoyed this records a lot more than the latest AMON AMARTH. That alone says many things. Trust me, you will like this record too if you are into the whole Viking Metal thing. And if you are not persuaded but what is mentioned above, well I can't do anything about it. The future is really bright for this band and who knows, why not adding them to a Paganfest/Heidenfest line-up that I am planning to visit sometime in the coming year. The horn is empty, I am going to refill it with some more ale and hit the play button again. Argh!

<

8 / 10

Excellent

"Fi'mbulvintr" Track-listing:
  1. Intro
  2. Einhärjar
  3. Vämods Tale
  4. The Last Journey
  5. Never Will You Know Of Flesh Again
  6. Wrath Of The Gods
  7. Snake Tongue
  8. Brethren Of The North
  9. Day Of Sorrow
  10. Lingering A Sacred Ground
  11. Heroes' Brigade
  12. Strike Of The Hammer
  13. Fi'mbulvintr (Outro)
King Of Asgard Lineup:

Karl Beckmann - Vocals, Guitar
Jonas Albrektsson - Bass
Karsten Larrson - Drums

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