Something very odd just happened, my review pile shrunk to just the one album and the honour went to Manegarm. This is something that is very rare and I can only put it down to the end of the year gap before the January releases start flooding in. It did give me the opportunity to go back and settle down with the previous two albums from these Swedish Vikings, which I had also covered on release and very enjoyable they were too. I was rather surprised to look and discover that Nattväsen (Night Creatures) is in fact the bands sixth full length studio album, they certainly have not got the attention they deserve in the UK and are way behind all the other ‘battle metal’ brigands who are happy to invade us and have hit the popularity stakes over here. This is not exactly the bands fault and it seems that it is increasingly difficult for the less well known bands to gain a foothold over here, especially when great events like the Paganfest (who Manegarm would be a fantastic addition to) seem to have bypassed our fickle Isle completely this year.
If there were a young Viking choir of the year competition, the opening choral chant of the album and ‘Mina Fäders Hall’ would have the band going head to head with Tyr. From that sweet opening the gauntlet is flung down as things romp away at a fast and furious pace. Erik Grawsiö (whom it should be mentioned is also the studio drummer) has a nice gruff snarl about his vocal clamour and the instrumentation goes about things at a giddy pace before slowing down to a folky jig and the clean chorals sweep back in. This is jaunty and full of melody and has that fist-slamming, downing a flagon of mead mentality about it that is difficult not to get enthusiastic about. This all has a jubilant feel to it too and songs such as ‘Nattsjäl, Drömsjäl’ (Nightsoul Dreamsoul) have that jolly old dance around the fire after bathing in the blood of our enemies, victorious swagger about them. I guess it’s not quite as serious as Moonsorrow and not quite as daft as Korpiklaani and Turisas so if you are looking for middle ground this is spot on.
The guitar and bass line on Bergagasten (The Mountain Ghost) had me scratching my head at first until I realised just how damn Sabbathian it was. Well seeing as the track is about a ghost I guess that’s perfectly acceptable and this does emit a sort of barbarian doom feel to it with an added touch of violin coursing through it for good measure. Actually the track even has a sort of Hawkwind ‘Warriors On The Edge Of Time’ psych wibble about it before it is done which makes it even more intriguing. It’s obvious that the band like throwing quite a few things into their musical pot, the sinister interlude ‘Hraesvelg’ sounds like it has taken us into a witches cave and starts with the low parping of a didgeridoo. The title starts with chorals and a big melody line and is full of bravado, hoary vocals and a spirit that virtually beseeches the olden gods. It is one of the slower numbers here, almost a ballad in essence and the fact that it is drenched in violin adds to this but after the couple of pounding anthems before it, this does allow you to take a bit of a breather. Perhaps they could have saved one of those for the final number too as the album goes out on another slow one with a lamentable air about it but it is ‘Delling’ (Dawn) and after a night like this even Vikings need some chill space.
All in all Nattväsen is well worth checking out if you have not come across Manegarm before and it is an album that those already in the know will certainly enjoy. I shall hope to catch them at some point such as confirmed festival Party San in 2010 or even better keep fingers crossed they might end up on a Euro tour that includes England.
http://www.manegarm.com
http://www.myspace.com/manegarm
