It's not often that the Metal world hears from Tunisia, and it seems even less conceivable that such a band would be built around Norse mythology. But this all changes with YMYRGAR, a Folk/Pagan Metal band hailing from the distant shores of northern Africa. With just a single release to their name, this debut full-length album "The Tale As Far" was released in 2014, two years after the band's formation.

Starting off with an epic sounding intro, "Einu sinni var" prepares us for the coming storm, and leads us into "Dawn of Time", a slow-paced song in which harshly rasped vocals provide a poignant counter to the lilting melodies. Whilst this song can at times feel too lacklustre, this is made up for by "Ode to Mighty Deeds", featuring a faster pace intertwined with enchanting tunes. With the lighter and more joyful instrumental song "The Last Sip" giving us a moment's breather after the apex of the album, penultimate song "Under the Sign of Path" shows what the band is capable of, offering one of the strongest songs of the album. But one thing is clear by the end of the album: thriving off of epic soundscapes intermingling with majestic moments that enthrall your imagination, all the way through to closer "Echoes of a Fallen Era", this album is pure distilled Folk Metal through and through.

Dealing with the typical themes of mythology, "The Tale As Far" spans almost three quarters of an hour, incorporating a cute album cover that underlines the band's young age. Fiddle and tin whistle add the folkier strains to the music, whist the guitars, bass, and drums ensure that Metal pandemonium reigns supreme. Added to this is a wide range of vocal styles that meld themselves to the melody. The male gang vocals and female vocals, as for example in "Hall of the Slain", really allow the album to shine, bringing to life scenes of warriors past. Nevertheless, the orchestrations can sometimes seem to be a bit haphazardly thrown in breaking up the flow of the album somewhat. The production quality on "The Tale As Far" does also unfortunately detract from the music, with a very highly digitalised sound that can come over as too computerised. Which is a pity, as this album could have been so much more powerful, even just with better mixing. However, given that this is an independent debut, this can be overlooked to some extent. Furthermore, the songwriting is well executed, with myriad different effects used to add a galaxy of new facets to the music.

Overall, this album does have it's fair share of shortcomings. However, it nonetheless oozes with potential, and it certainly will be interesting to see how YMYRGAR progress. If you're a fan of Folk Metal with an extra large serving of the Folk elements then this would definitely be worth at least giving a chance to, and with the album being available for free on YMYRGAR's website, you have no excuse not to check out this band.