By: Tordah

Posted: Jan 21, 2006

I'm not the only one who was disappointed by Elvenking's last offering "Wyrd". The album had its moments but overall it didn't have the same magic that the debut "Heathenreel" had. Already when I saw the great cover art for the new album and heard that former vocalist Damnagoras was back my hopes went up right away. Maybe he was the missing key on the previous album because "The Winter Wake" is definitely a lot better than "Wyrd".

Elvenking plays a hybrid of power and folk metal that works very well. Most of the melodies are played on the violin and gives the band their unique sound. Elvenking embraces the folk aspects just as much as the metal stuff, unlike other bands that simply add folk elements to a guitar-riff here and there. Damnagoras vocals are and have always been an important part of the whole sound-image as well. Technically, he is far from the best power metal singer out there, but he has an instantly recognizable voice and it suits the music perfectly. There are some occasional growling parts but I thought they sounded rather forced and like something just thrown in for the sake of having them. No "Seasonspeech" in other words. The guitar-riffs are for the most part pretty good and have a nice crunchy sound. The drums sound good as well as the keyboards that come in every now and then. If only they had lowered the guitars a bit in the mix and put more emphasis on the vocals and violins the album would be pretty much perfect production-wise.

There's no doubt that Elvenking are very good song-writers. Every song contains tons of different parts and keeps you on your edge, never really knowing what the next passage will sound like. One part might have a really cool violin melody while the next one have a crunchy guitar-riff and choirs, followed by a mellow acoustic breakdown before venturing into something completely new. The use of choirs and back-up singing is done very tastefully and sound awesome. All the different musical pieces of the puzzle fits together and there's not a single dull moment to be found anywhere. There's enough variation in the songs to keep things interesting from start to finish. It's obvious that the band worked hard to satisfy their fans. The only minor complaint I have is that the music completely lacks any feeling of winter whatsoever. With an album title like "The Winter Wake" I would expect to have at least something in the music that makes me think of winter and snow. Anyway, "The Winter Wake" may not be as good as the excellent "Heathenreel", but it's definitely a step up from "Wyrd". Anyone interested in power/folk metal who is not familiar with the band yet should check them out as soon as possible.

Rating: 8/10

Elvenking website

Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by Target

Buy the album at

Print