There are lots of Trolls in metal; that is unless you are one of those power metal listening freaks where it is all fairies and elves! Of course there are those from Finland and it is high time Trollheims Grott sorted themselves out, there are Trollhorns, Trollfests, and a veritable horde of bands with Trollish titles and that’s without even mentioning Arckanum, the king of the Trolls himself. But now, the original Troll from Norway are back, no longer hiding under the bridge, they have jumped out again ready to frighten us once more.
Troll have been out of action since last album ‘Universal’ in 2001 on Head Not Found. There were other reasons they were on such a cult label other than the fact their music was good, namely the drummer on that opus was one Hellhammer. Although he is no longer serving, long time founding member Stian Arnesen aka Nagash aka Lex Icon is. Now you probably realise why this band were looked on with such respect and why it is no surprise that their new album is out on Napalm records.
I am not going to mince my words here but ‘Neo-Satanic Supremacy (and you have to love that clichéd title) is a veritable corker of an album. If you are hungering for a new Demon Burger to take a bite out of, forget it, this is a real whopper! It is a manic dervish ride of an album with all those great ice cream van keyboard peals going into frosty overdrive and it has some excellent songs on it.
‘Til Helvete Med Alt’ sees austere keys weaving a neo classical baroque overture before that dreadful rasp from Nagash sticks forked tongue in. The orchestration is excellent as is the production and this sounds like the work of a much bigger band than an underground entity who have been away for so long. The rest of the band may well be unknown names to me but they are certainly pounding away with demonic intent and are doing a great job here. It is all too easy to name drop Old Mans Child and Dimmu Borgir into the conversation but this has an energy, verve and precision about it that stands out proudly and really hammers its devilish message home.
Although it is all well and good, it is track four when the ace is dealt and ‘Burn The Witch’ stakes its claim as one of the albums best tracks. It’s kind of the New World Order of the CD and has a fantastically memorable chorus, thrashy galloping pace and mystical dark keyboards and how can you not love vocals “Burn, burn, burn, burn the witch, burn the goddamn bitch.?” All guns are blazing by this point and ‘Mörkets Skoge’ continues at a frantic pace with some great drumming and deliriously weird keyboard work. Speaking of the keys we have ‘Hvor Tåken Ligger Så Trist Og Grå’ which has that frosty sound so brilliantly evoked by Dimmu on classic song ‘Mourning Place’ about it and this slower number is another standout one on an album that contains many! This still leaves the full on headbang fury of the title track and parting shot ‘The Age Of Satan’ with raps of “God is dead,” just in case you hadn’t quite got the message.
This is an album that sold itself completely to me on just the first listen and that is a rare thing indeed. Repeated plays have not diminished this in the slightest and I have a feeling that this is going to be getting plenty more spins in the future. Apparently the band are also ready to hit the world stage now and I very much hope to get the chance to see them. Hmmm now if someone was only clever enough to put em on tour with Goblin!
http://www.myspace.com/troll
