Stay Pure D.I.Y

Månegarm - 'Månegarm' - Full-lenght - 2015

Three years after their last piece of work ‘Legions of the north’ came to the light, this fall we have the eight in a row album from the Swedish Viking worshipers Månegarm. For those unfamiliar with the origins of the word, it is time to reveal what it stands for, as both the album and creators wear the same moniker. The term Månegarm comes from the Norse mythology, describing a wolf who feeds on the blood from dead people, and he swallows the moon down at Ragnarök. The band was formed back in 1995 under a different name – Antikrist, but probably realizing how common it may be, they changed it a month later. I think the name serves as a good detail in the overall image of the band. Only one of the original members is still inside this crew, the guitarist Jonas Almguist. Erik Grawsiö, who performs the bass line, as well as the vocals on this album, started as the drummer in 1996, shifting in 2000 as the singer and later on as the bassist. Markus Andė is the second guitarist. He joined Månegarm in 1996 and still stays strongly positioned inside. Their latest addition is Jacob Hallegren, taking control of the drums in 2011. For the years past, Månegarm managed to stand out on the metal scene, putting out some descent Viking/folk metal albums, widely accepted and worshiped. This one is here to continue the well established tradition…

From overhearing the whole album at once, I was quite satisfied with the production aspect, which is pretty clean and descent. I sensed some kind of standard variations of the song types. Yes there are two types of songs here. The first one is acoustic ballads with clean vocals and a lot of traditional instruments, mostly string instruments. The second type belongs to the distorted mixtures of heavy and power metal, filled with vocals most similar to death and black metal subgenres. The types of songs mostly change in precise intervals and really keep a good diversity and dynamics of the whole set. ‘Blödorn’ is the opening and longest composition of them all. It starts with fine combination of acoustic guitars and background organs, molding the supporting traditional string sounds in a nicely transcended native feel. It looks like every segment has been finely filled here. After a minute or two, the play transforms into sludgy guitars intro, moving slowly and exposing the vocal for the first time. The drums hit the double kick and build up a memorable moment with the riff along, finishing again in some traditional Viking melodies. Mostly the vocal is black oriented, but a sufficient amount of clean vocals are present as well. Second comes ‘Tagen av daga’ with provoking rock’ n roll bass intro and a jolly traditional melody, that really brings up the positive vibe. That mixture continues on, accompanied by background choirs and a vocal transcending from old-school rock to death metal. The highlight here was the middle part of the song where there was a nice play of many types of traditional instruments. Moving forward we have the song that will raise a feeling of battle glory in you, never mind if you have been in a battle or not ever. The tempo on ‘Odin owns ye all’ is a bit faster than the rest of the tracks, and has some heavy chorus with neat breakdown (and people singing Odin! Odin! In the background). Remember before when we were talking about the twists? Now it happens, after all of that adrenaline from the previous hymn, now everything settles down with the fourth and relaxed acoustic ballad ‘Blot’. The next one entitled ‘Vigverk – del II’ isn’t much different also, except the fact that the acoustic background is completed by a tender female voice and a more harsh male voice, making a good symbioses as they go. After these parts of lower blood pressure, not it is time for metal again. This one is probably my favorite on the album - ‘Call of the runes’, mostly because of the simple punk-like chorus and after-sections. Most of the song competes with the traditional vibe and the speed metal side, beating them at the punk finish of it. Another good aspect is the vocal, which changes from clean, to black, to death in a tasty way. Again, everything chills with the easy going compositions ‘Kraft’ and ‘Bärsärkarna från svitjod’, of which the second one is a really good fit for late night pub gatherings. What’s next? Of course, a speed/folk metal for one last farewell, before the album finishes in an acoustic ballad style with ‘Allfader’ and the female voice in it. The album is pretty good, but don’t expect too much energy from it. Yet, you can find it usable when your soul requires some peaceful traditional specs.