I recently found this weird Metal cocktail, and what a cocktail it is! The recipe consists of a great fusion Viking and Doom Metal, and it works perfectly. The creators of this mix are the Swedish EREB ALTOR, and they have done a great job on their third full length album "Gastrike". In fact, the album surprised me from first listen, and you shall see why.

With the start of the first track, I checked if my iTunes spazzed out and played BATHORY instead. No, it was playing "The Gathering of Witches", and this is, huh, wow. You can easily sense the doom influence dominating the atmosphere of this track; those devilish rasps accompanied by those guitars make the song very enjoyable and pleasure to repeat. If the upcoming six songs conform to this formula, I better make some popcorn, since this is going to be an epic 45 minute ride.

The second offering is entitled "Dance of Darkness". It's pretty similar to its predecessor, being entertaining and an absolute bliss to my ears. We arrive to the third and fourth tracks of this album "Dispellation" and "Boatmans Call", which are both magical and great. The guitar riffing is well done and varied, while the vocals here change from throaty rasps to clean choir-like singing, which couldn't have been a more perfect addition.

The rest of the album is marvelous. I reached bits that made me rewind and make sure my ears weren't deceiving me, like the second half of "I Djupet Så Svart", and the aforementioned music elements are repeated in a unique way, making each track on this album a different personality. Concerning the production of "Gastrike", it's neither overly nor poorly produced, which is just what this genre calls for.
This has been one of the most interesting listens so far, and a new addition to my favorite albums of 2012. If you've been longing for a refreshing Viking Metal album, you best prepare your sword and chain mail armor, for this album will be an entrance into Valhalla.