Artist: Stormwarrior
Title: Heathen Warrior
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 27th May 2011
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
STORMWARRIOR has built themselves quite a reputation since their inception in 1998. These Germans take a focus on Norse mythology with their musical themes and perform some melodic, but not generic, heavy metal that is mixed with power and folk metal elements as well. Their fourth full length album is more of a continuation of the story of their last album, ‘Heading Northe,’ which was full of Viking themes in the song titles and lyrics. ‘Heathen Warrior’ is very similar in sound and style, so fans should know what to expect; new fans should not expect melodic death metal because this is nothing like AMON AMARTH, another big forerunner in the Viking metal territory. For those who are unsure of what to expect from STORMWARRIOR, think a combination of MAN-O-WAR meets ELVENKING meets GUNS N’ ROSES. On one side there is the highly melodic guitar lines and rumbling bass to fill in the melodic metal sides, and then the vocals which are clean and well sung, but feature that raw and rough power that was represented best by bands such as GUNS N’ ROSES and other older heavy metal artists.
‘Heathen Warrior’ kicks off with ‘Og Hammeren Haeves…’, a brief instrumental that is slow to build and may make one think they are going to hear highly melodic power metal or folk metal. However, soon the album jumps into a whole new gear with ‘Heathen Warrior’ which is full of energetic guitar melodies and an equally loud bass that picks up every once in a while- a rare thing in metal since usually it is buried. The choruses are infectious and enjoyable due to the multi-vocal layering, which occurs many times in the verses too and add a lot of diversity to the music. Other tracks like ‘Heirs To The Fighte’ make use of a chorus wail with the voices, which seems to make up for the repetitive lyrics. ‘Fyre & Ice’ follows more of the traditional heavy metal style by being more cohesive and less flamboyantly melodic, save for the solos which come in at the proper times. In turn, the bass tends to get more buried and the drums about as loud as the guitars. ‘The Valkyries Calls’ seems to feature a more symphonic backdrop; if once listens closely they can hear some epic choirs in the background along with the keyboards that float along. The same can be said for the final track, ‘And Northern Steele Remaineth’, but it is still a heavy track overall that isn’t as slow as the previous one. It basically culminates the best of the album so far and throws it at the listener.
Overall, ‘Heathen Warrior’ matches up as a decent power/ heavy metal offering. It doesn’t do anything genre defying, but it does make one want to listen through and enjoy the whole album rather than just skip around because so many different songs are so blatantly generic or ‘sound all the same.’ It is mostly up to heavy metal standards than anything else; the fantasy elements of power metal are there, but there are no ballads and no real slow moments along with nothing too overeager in the way of keyboards. The whole album hits hard, just as most of STORMWARRIOR’S work does. So those who have followed the band should be granted their expectations. For new fans, this would not be a bad choice to start, but if anyone picks up a certain theme or storyline, then they will probably want to begin with ‘Northern Rage’.
Tracklist
01. ...Og Hammeren Hæves Til Slag... - 0:44
02. Heathen Warrior - 4:59
03. The Ride of Asgård - 4:39
04. Heirs to the Fighte - 5:21
05. Bloode to Bloode - 4:26
06. Fyre & Ice - 4:11
07. The Returne - 5:19
08. Wolven Nights - 4:46
09. Ravenhearte - 3:19
10. The Valkyries Call - 4:46
11. And Northern Steele Remaineth - 6:00
Line-up
Lars Ramcke - Vocals & Guitar
Alex Guth - Guitar
Yenz Leonhardt - Bass & Vocals
Hendrik Thiesbrummel - Drums
Website
http://www.stormwarrior.de/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment