Stay Pure D.I.Y

Varg - 'The End of All Lies' - Full-lenght - 2016

This Wolf pack from Coburg, Bavaria (Germany) tends to be labeled as ‘wolf metal’ in the underground metal scene. Varg is consisted of Fenrier on drums (2005-present), Freki on guitars and singing along the way (2005-present), Hati on second guitar (2008-present) and finally Managarm previously on bass, but currently the lead guitarist and backing vocal. Syntech is an industrial metal band from Germany where both Managarm and Hati perform, playing under different monikers. Freki is the organizer of the pagan metal festival held in Germany called Wolfzeit (also a title from the first Varg album in 2007). As I can see the guys are pretty much deeply involved in different aspects of the underground pagan scene and maintain their lifestyles according to the requirements. They are dominantly dressed in old-school metal clothing, leather and denim, preserving the black color as a sign of darkness and aggression. Chains and bullet-belts are an important asset of their image as well. Another significant marker is the paint they are usually colored in, while they play live or appear on some of their video shoots. The colors are mixture of reddish tones (resembling blood) and black tribal symbols. Varg started shaking the metal ground in 2005, and the band has been pretty active in the period of 20 years of existence. They are responsible for couple of great melodic black/death metal albums such as Blutaar (2010), Wolfskult (2011) and Guten Tag (2012). Besides these releases, Varg appear on various compilations and have some demos and splits released also. In their lyrics they tend to refer to different topics of paganism, mythology and Vikings. They stand strong on anti-fascist and anti-racist positions and obtain from any politically based texts.

The end of all lies is the album that needs to be heard at least two times. It dwells in diversity and dynamics and the time passes by really fast once you play it. Though, I have never been a really big fan of pagan metal, this set I like. Maybe that is because of the fact that The end of all lies was created with the purpose of satisfying fans of various metal genres. The album has ten tracks; nine actually, as the first one is a part from The great dictator and his thoughts on worldwide peace – in means no music here. The second or first, actual song is a really great starter. It’s an aggressive, strong, energetic and dominative composition. For most of it, I can say it is a melodic death metal song, with a lot metalcore segments. It lasts for three minutes before turning in its harsher twin brother Revolution. This song interprets most of the parts from the previous song, while being more memorable and hymn-like. With Revolution the melodic death metal part of the album finishes. A follow-up is Streyfzug, announcing the era of the real pagan metal. Recognizable by the chorus backgrounds of proud singing, melodic full riffs - the paganism reeks from this one. Compacted with some acoustics and synths it really does a turnover. Achtung is the next hymn, starting with some quite catchy rock intro that tends to appear every now and then, and keeps the main basics of the song. I think this is a song about the band themselves because of the lyrics, saying something about a wolf pack coming. Next song is Darkness, the one I mostly disliked because of the lack of character. It just didn’t offer anything interesting. The paganism continues, now with a female vocal appearing on The Dance of Death. It’s a really slow and vivid composition with a remarkable leading riff, performed both in acoustic and distorted versions. Einherjer is the last one of the dominating pagan songs, a little bit faster than the previous one, and as glorious as it can get. So which genre was left missing? Of course, black metal. So black metal fans do not despair, as Varg made sure a song of such was going to be put on the album. That one is Winterstorm. The fastest and darkest song here, probably one of the best they made. The end of all lies finished with Rain of Ash, again not so remarkable song, but still fulfilling. It’s funny that I found the album with all-german lyrics out there, so I think that it will come out in two different language versions. Personally I think the German one will suit these lyrics more, even though I don’t understand that language too well. The production is quite modern and quite good, keeping all of the songs really tight. I will sure dig deeper into Vargs’ music!