Formed in the year 2003 and hailing from the Frisian North sea coast of Germany is VIKE TARE, a Folk/Pagan Black Metal band. "Feed The Flames" is their second full-length studio album after "The Tide Of Revelation" that was released in the year 2005 and which they recorded on their own dime. The band toured constantly in their native Germany but had to put hold their aspirations in the year 2008 due to time constraints. In the year 2013, the band reunited to record and rehearse and the end result is the album, "Feed The Flames". The band claims that the name of the album as well as their moniker is related to the Pagan festival of Biikebrennen, held on the 21st of February every year, and is a pagan festival where straws are burnt as an offering to Weda, a god equated with Odin, to keep fishermen safe and for the expulsion of evil spirits. The band is more influenced by the Melodic style of Metal that was pioneered by the Swedish bands and they play around motifs and lyrics that involve seafaring and other nautical adventures.

The album lurches into life with the first track entitled "Feed The Flames (About One Who Wouldn't Obey)" and it is a track lasting more than 7 minutes in runtime. It starts out simply with an acoustic chord progression before distorted guitars and guttural vocals join in and is shored up by frantic double bass drum action. The song has blast beats incorporated in-between but for most parts it is melodic and has crunching riffs with slow bits in between. "Phobos Anomaly" starts of with a galloping Old School Heavy Metal riff and as the vocals join the melee, the song gets heavier. There are awkward moments in the track where the riff struggles to fit, but the riff more than makes up for the odd timing. This track is another head-bangable song and invokes mighty heroics of warriors gone by. "Trutz, Blanke Hans" is an interpretation of German poet Otto Ernst poem and it stakes off again with a blazing Old School Metal riff. The melancholic song has a melodic lead that accompanies the verse and is a rapid song with no let up in the singing. There is a spoken word section in the song that is in clean vocals. The tortured vocals mesh exquisitely with the riff and the melodic backing female vocals. "Like A Silent Hill" begins with a chugging riff and a simple lead guitar overlay before the drums add heaviness to the melody. The keyboard plays an important part in the beginning of the song. Rasping, growling vocals chaperone the 6-minute long song and the song is replete with heavy power chords and is accompanied by keyboard melodies. "Rebirth Denied" is another song over 6 minutes in runtime and has a melodic beginning before the song slows down to a twin lead guitar attack. The song picks up speed during the verse alternately switching from the lead guitars to heavy power chords with double bass drumming.

There is no doubt that this is an album made by a bunch of professional musicians. The melodies are well thought out and the whole atmosphere that the band sets about is dire and melancholic. The only place where I thought the band let down was the vocals, which weren't strong enough. The Melodic Metal melodies that the band plays are a revelation and it is clever. Old School heavy Metal riffs interlaced with keyboards and thick, throaty vocals leads to a very ominous album that thrills with its soaring lead guitars as well as its heavy chugging riffs. A must have for fans of Melodic/Black Metal fans.<