HARDWARES

A kinder, gentler Viking? Hagar the Ill-Mannered, if you like. Rather than play it safe and make the same album over again, the Swedes have altered the landscape, for which they should be lauded. But will they? Seemingly designed to showcase musicianship (COB guitarist Roope Latvala adds a solo to the titular number), the guitar tones are different, cleaner and downright power metal in places, as with the opening ‘Live For The Kill’, ‘Varyags Of Miklagaard’ and the title cut. Despite all but the concluding ‘Embrace The Endless Ocean’ (6:45) being pared to less than four and a half minutes, the tempo is generally slower and certainly less bloodthirsty, lacking the gallop that signalled racing into battle, or the peasantry fleeing in terror, to say nothing of the aforementioned ‘Live For The Kill’, which features gang vocals courtesy of Apocalyptica and a viola/cello solo! On the other hand ‘Where Is Your God?’ and ‘No Fear For The Setting Sun’ are brutal slices of death metal, with Johan Hegg bellowing at his most severe. Grandiose descriptive first-person battlefield sagas inherent in the last album’s ‘Gods Of War Arise’, ‘With Oden On Our Side’ or ‘Prediction Of Warfare’ have been replaced by tunes lamenting long overseas journeys (undoubtedly an allegory for the band’s touring schedule). This will undoubtedly be the band’s biggest seller to date, thanks to that merciless touring onslaught, especially in North America, where the band is only now beginning to crack beyond the diehards (another possible motive behind the expanded soundscape). Does that alone make it better than Once Sent From The Golden Hall, Versus The World or With Oden On Our Side? No, but enjoyable nonetheless. Not a lethal blow, ‘tis but a flesh wound. Fans will want to search out the limited edition with bobble-head figurines of each member!