Mistur - In Memoriam - Review

Mistur was started in Sogndal, Norway, by Espen Bakketeig and Andre Raunehaug, and the band was joined shortly after by Stian Bakketeig (Vreid, ex-Windir, ex-Cor Scorpii). After a demo, they landed a deal with Einheit Produktionen, and the debut album "Attende" was released in 2009 to rave reviews. Apart from some festival shows and a tour, the band became inactive for shorter periods, before the work on the follow up album started.

Dark Essence Records

Mistur wants to share more of their 'Sognametal' with us,but
the question is : Do we want it?

Personally I enjoyed their debut 'Attende' back in 2009 so I'm excited about 'In Memoriam'

The first thing that strikes me is the word majestic as the record spins.

When bands combining synth onto their metal or whatever, it can go so terribly wrong in many ways.

One thing is overdoing it, luckily that isn't the case here.

The album start up with a majestic & epic feel to it, I think 'majestic' is the keyword for 'In Memoriam'

Mistur has obviously grown in
every aspect and it clearly shines throughout the entire album.

For me personally, this is a step further than 'Attende'

The vocals are pitch'ed down a bit and there is some nicely fit clean vocals.

This is thanx to their new vocalist Oliver Øyien, and they also have a new drummer this time named Tomas Myklebust
, perhaps two new band members was the fresh breath the band needed.

I also enjoy the gitars whitch is what very much participates to the 'Sogna Metal' sound, allthough this time they have pushed the boundaries.

I'd say towards more complex and aggressive, yet they have kept the core essence of their style.

A must fans of Windir, but also such as Amon Amarth,Insomnium,Månegarm

Tracklist :

1.Downfall

2.Distant Peaks

3.Firstborn Son

4.Matriarch's Lament

5.The Sight

6.Tears Of Remembrance

Available on CD 26. April 

Slegest - Løyndom (Review)

Slegest formed in Leikanger, Norway in 2010 as the solo project of Stig Ese Eliassen who was the guitarist of Vreid from their formation until 2009 and co-produced Windir’s Likferd album.

Initial recordings were based on material that was written but never used as well as new mterial written in the same vein. The volume of content justified proffessional recording in Conclave & Earshot studios and drum recordings in Bergen with the mixing done at home. Cited influences are Early Black Sabbath, The Ramones and Ese’s own state of mind resulting in “Dark Primal Metal”.

 

Stig Ese Eliassen which formerly was a member of Vreid has released a project of his own which is a mixture of doom metal combined with more harsh metal vocals.
'Løyndom' starts of with a typical doomish track 'Ho Som Haustar Aleine' and I have to admit it's pretty good.
The riffs reminds of early Black Sabbath and traditional heavy metal but with a touch of old school black metal elements.
 

The big question here is for me if this works as a piece of music in the long run.
I have spun the album for quite some time now, since I had problems digesting it at first, not the music though which is catchy and enjoyable .
 

What I have to pint my finger is the vocals,does it do any good to this genre adding black metal vocals on top of it.
The answer is somewhat divided 'cause yes, it works for the first 3-4 tracks ,but after that the vocals gets somewhat boring and predictable.

Musically this is not bad at all ,but it does not reach to the top here.

I found this somewhat hard to write about as I have mixed emotions about it ,but if I should roll the dice and pick a fair number for this release I guess it would have landed on 3/6 and take note that the low score mainly is due to the vocals 'cause the music is as said very good and I hope he developes his style in the future as it's not a bad idea at all.

I suggest you take a listen for yourself as you might be in for a surprise!

     
     Official Site: http://www.slegest.no