Artist: Black Messiah
Title: First War of the Worlds
Label: AFM Records
Type: Album
As someone who shares her fiancé with the oh-so-demanding Guild Wars, I can quite honestly say that myself and fantasy really don’t see eye to eye; seen one epic battle, seen ‘em all. And besides, trying to keep up with all these wacky Middle Earthian monikers is a real nightmare for the likes of me who struggle to remember even the simplest of names! So it’s probably a bit of a contradiction that I so enjoy a good bit of heroic, sword wielding, mead-served-by-wench, armour wearing fantasy battle metal or whatever you want to call it. Black Messiah are certainly not a band that have ever cropped up on my radar, at least, not until now, and the amount of information I dare say is fairly minimal. From what I understand, this is the bands debut album for AFM Records, and while it’s clear that an album couldn’t really be any more blatantly conceptual if it said so on the cover, with such lack of the usual PR spin, I am left to fathom out the story for myself. While this is made somewhat easier by the intermittent narration, which is done in a dramatic, if in a children’s fantasy tale kind of way, the Germanic singing through the majority of the album really presents me with a hell of challenge here.
So the story starts off when Odin discovers a city, where he casts eyes on the Vanir tribe that he views as a threat to all of Valhallah, and when he sends his boys to spry on the tribe they discover them to be similar to them, only with great magical powers. You can easily catch the general gist of what is going on, and you don’t need to read the book, so to speak, to enjoy the music. The sporadic narrative really has quite a Rhapsodian feel to it, although musically they couldn’t be much more different. There’s quite a strong leaning towards the black metal end of the scale, especially on tracks like ‘Vanir Tribe’ where we are brought straight into the tale with some storming blackened guitars and rasped vocals, that is, after an introductory melody that I can’t help draw a parallel to ‘Over The Hills.’ ‘Vorden Toren Valhalls’ takes us marching into Valhallah with a steady pace that rolls closer towards the battlefield, with a hefty swagger and a warmongering riff that has me thinking a little of Amon Amarth.
There is a strong Teutonic vibe running though their sound, particularly on tracks like ‘Gullveig,’ which, with its lively pennywhistle melodies sounds like a German folk song. The vocals here remind somewhat of DAR; a clean, Teutonic bark, while there is a general air of conviviality that aids one to dance a lively jig (surely a bit of entertainment during the war is quite pertinent.)
Finally we get down to business with the ‘Battle of Asgard’ and sure enough I can hear the soles of steel marching sequatiously to the dark, industrial drum beat, through bouts of ferocious and bloody battle. Once the Venir have survived the ‘Chase’ home, their kingdom becomes a blazing inferno as Odin orders his minions to ‘Burn Vanaheimr.’ For such a despoiling track it all sounds unbelievably jovial, with floaty violin melodies, before the narrator returns with the news of death of one of the brothers. ‘Peace at a High Price’ is an apt name for the song that precedes it; clearly the kingdom is saved but not without fatalities, and this is kind of a final requiem for the fallen.
I must confess that this album took a bit of work to get into, and certainly, at times it is quite amusing especially when it starts to take itself a bit seriously. Having said that, it is an enjoyable album, and one that should appeal to fans of Ensiferum and Turisas. Good stuff.
http://www.black-messiah.de/
http://www.myspace.com/blackmessiah2
Luci Herbert
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