Ulfven

Ereb Altor

I was talking with my brother this morning about an unsung band called ISOLE. We […]
By Jean-Francois Poulin
June 28, 2017
Ereb Altor - Ulfven album cover

I was talking with my brother this morning about an unsung band called ISOLE. We just absolutely loved the album ''Silent Ruins'' from a few years back and I didn't know that some members of this band were the founding members of EREB ALTOR. I didn't know about this band at all and saw that they were heavily influenced by BATHORY. Actually their last release was a covers album with all BATHORY songs. I was really stoked to be able to listen to this band and lots of people in my entourage told me they were very good. The first song is ''Voluspa'' and its mostly narration or spoken word. They talk in Swedish so I don't understand a damn thing! It's a woman's voice and it's pretty soothing. The production isn't great and at times I had trouble just hearing the woman's voice throughout the song. The second song is ''En Synd Svart Som Sot'', this resembles more the Doom Metal style. It's a bit slower than the rest of the album and it's almost seven minutes long. It really goes fast and doesn't drag on.

The third song is ''Av Blod Ar Jag Kommen'', you have three different types of vocals on this album, the clean vocals, the harsh vocals and the blackened black metal shrieking. It's a nice combination and this song is probably the most enjoyable of all the album. As for the music, it resembles a bit what ENSLAVED have been doing with their last few albums. The fourth song is ''The Rite of Kraka'', the vocalist hits his highest notes of the album on this song. I liked the change of pace because of this. As for the music, I thought it sounded some really great DIMMU BORGIR. It's probably my favorite song off this release. There is much more time devoted to the instruments and everyone shines. They are not overshadowed by the vocalist. As for the fifth song which is ''Ulfven'', it's probably the most complete song of the album. It brings the album together and its one hell of a title track.

The sixth song is ''Wolfcurse'' and it starts off with distant singing and acoustic guitars. This is probably the most Folk Metal song of the album. It sounds very traditional and it's a nice departure from the rest of the album. The seventh song is ''Gleipnir''. They sing in English on this one and I thought that was a nice touch. It's the heaviest song of the album and the vocalist completely changed his style of singing on this one. It really reminded me of the MOONSPELL albums. Musically well, it sounds a bit like CRADLE OF FILTH when they do something right (which isn't really often!) minus the horrible singing voice of Dani Filth thankfully.

The last song is a very long one and it clocks at more than ten minutes and it's called ''Bloodline''. It's another song that is sung in English. I am really surprised they went the extra mile with the last two songs of the album and they showed they have great mastery of the English language! It starts off with some acoustic guitars then all the instruments follow, they all chime in to create a wonderful and monumental wall of sound. It sounds like a bit like a toned down version of TYR with a mixed bag of various influences. A long son that doesn't fell like it's dragging on. A solid release by another underrated European band.

8 / 10

Excellent

Songwriting

8

Musicianship

8

Memorability

8

Production

7
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"Ulfven" Track-listing:

1. Voluspa
2. En synd svart som sot
3. Av blod är jag kommen
4. The Rite of Kraka
5. Ulfven
6. Wolfcurse
7. Gleipnir
8. Bloodline

Ereb Altor Lineup:

Mats - Vocals, Bass, Guitars, Keyboards
Ragnar - Keyboards Vocals, Bass, Guitars
Tord - Drums
Mikael - Bass, Vocals (Backing)

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