I wonder if the Viking references would have been as prominent with another name. THRUDVANGAR in Old Norse means "Fields Of Strength" and was the home of Thor The Thundergod according to Wikipedia. And absolutely, they do have the same feel in the music as other bands in the genre, AMON AMARTH to mention one. They have the groovy grinding in the music and there are also a few melodies with a touch of Nordic Folk-music but apart from that THRUDVANGAR is absolutely more just a melodic Death Metal band with atmospheric Black Metal Influences. "Durch Blut Und Eis" ("Through Blood And Ice") is this band's 4th full length release and listening to it I'm very intrigued to dig into their back catalogue and explore further because this is a very nice record. Viking Metal tends to be filled with clichιs, repetitive and to be frank, quite boring. Not with this album though but that has absolutely to do with the style of the music and lack of the ordinary Folk-music references that's very common in this type of music. This is a pure Metal album!

The Viking theme is much more present in the lyrics. "Durch Blut Und Eis" is a concept album based on the saga of Viking explorer Eric The Red, his life and death though blood and banishment from his native Norway. With that, references can easily be drawn with Faroe-based TYR but apart from the theme THRUDVANGAR has nothing in common with that band.

The good thing about this album is it very pleasant to listen to, it is easy to get into. The less positive things about it is basically the same, that nothing really stands out, straight through it's a very nice record but there's nothing really memorable after the first few spins. Sure, the last couple of songs have a little tougher edge but they're basically the same anyway. On the other hand there's nothing to be annoyed over either. The production suites the music perfectly, they keyboards are just enough coloration behind the thick wall of guitars and again, nothing really sticks out.

If they've succeeded with the concept I leave uncommented since I haven't had the chance to dig into the lyrics. I doubt the booklet would have done any good anyway since THRUDVANGAR sings in their native tongue, German. In fact it took a while to realize the lyrics are in German. The harsh vocals are well molded into the whole picture, that's the good thing with it. If it has been clean vocals it would have been different, since normally, for me who doesn't have German as first language, songs sung in German feels either very angular or like a beer-drinking parody theme for a band. Not this time but of course that makes it a lot harder to dig in to how much effort THRUDVANGAR put into the lyrical concept.

To wrap it up, "Durch Blut Und Eis" is a very nice album, very pleasant to listen too. Maybe a little too much the same all the way through but as long as it's as good as this one that doesn't matter much.
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