The grand halls of metal await them. A lot of the true metal fogies (myself included) tend to speak at length about the greatness of the old days. Thrash, speed, and death were new and exciting and no band of today could ever begin to parallel the genius of those collectable records. Yes, there were some true masterpieces. But in listening to this latest disc from Sweden’s THYRFING, I’m quite certain that none of those pioneering bands could have ever pulled off anything this brilliant. Sure, Quorthon made some cool epic albums later on in his career, but in the end all the diehards just wanted him to beat the skins and shriek about vampires. KREATOR tried to evolve their sound several times, even adding Tom Vetterli from CORONER to the mix at one point. But when the smoke cleared, most of the fans were just covering their ears and screaming for them to bash out “Tormentor”. Fortunately, they’ve made a triumphant return to their classic sound. Really, perhaps only CELTIC FROST or VENOM were capable of creating a compelling epic that would rival this one, and the latter would be chock full of comedic moments, enchanting to the nth degree, but not exactly on topic for this type of comparison.

The sound of THYRFING has always intrigued me. Some of their past discs like “Valdr Galga” are high watermarks for midpaced, black metallish odes to gobbling charred meat, sharpening swords, and fashioning vessels from mighty oaks. But this latest disc “Farsotstider” is the band’s strongest work to date. Although the album is sung entirely in Swedish, the shifting riff structures and perky piano and violin accompaniments lay the groundwork for a compelling listening experience that just grows and grows with repeat listens. The wintry guitar arpeggios and keyboard interludes seem to indicate that these guys are big fans of stuff like EMPEROR. But frankly, the ambitious changes and lengthy processions call to mind much more dynamic records from bands like THE GOD MACHINE. Don’t expect to get it all on the first listen. Give it a few spins, and pretty soon the clobbering high drama of stuff like “Elddagjämning” will attach itself to your psyche, refusing to let go.

The only down side of the whole thing is, the listener isn’t privy to unravel the latest swashbuckling tale without a Swedish translator. Of course, in reviewer-land, all my documentation tells me about crap like “focus markets” and “targeted metal radio campaigns", but nothing truly interesting like details on the concept or the lyrical storyline. If anybody gets the scoop, gimme a holler. In the meantime, this one's a keeper.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.thyrfing.com

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