Ereb Altor – The End

Recordlabel: Napalm Records
Releasedate: Marcht 26th 2010 (Europe)

When a cd enters with a prologue that takes 4 minutes and 19 seconds, you know what the genre the album you are listening to is. According to themselves the band Ereb Altor plays Epic Viking Doom Metal. This because the lyrics are mostly about Nordic mythology and the sound being epic and doom.
Their second cd ‘The End’ is a follow up of the well received first record called ‘By Honour’ released in 2007. I have listened on occasion to this first album and am in anticipation about their second. As the first real track starts (Myrding) I get sucked back into a world of telling tales in clean vocals and a heavy sound. The first thing I noticed is that the vocals are of good quality and really give the music an edge. The sound itself is a bit like epic Bathory but more refined without losing the rough feeling. This stays the same in the two songs following the first. They are called ‘Our Failure’ and ‘A new but past day’. These songs are kept fresh with the use of some acoustic guitars but both use the driven and slow tempo off course. As we progress to the fifth song (fourth if not counting the prologue) we enter the 3 main songs of the album. These are songs that tell the story of Ragnarök or the end of the world. They are respectively called ‘Vargavinter – The End Part I’, ‘Balder’s Fall – The End Part II’ and ‘The Final War – The End Part III’. They also introduce some grunts/screams which are not noticeable till ‘Vargavinter’. The songs use the same structure and have good transitions. On the Balder’s Fall track I hear the first use of some double bassing. This really keeps me on my toes and keeps my interest.

Conclusion
If you are inspired by work of Bathory (Hammerheart) you will definitely like this album. I myself like this album a lot and I think I will put on this record when feeling gloomy. I definitely recommend this to Doom lovers and Viking metal lovers. The album has the right amount of ooooh ooooooh ooooohs and some really great vocal lines.

Review by: Roel

Tracklisting

01. The Entering – Myrding Prologue
02. Myrding
03. Our Failure
04. A new but past Day
05. Vargavinter -The End Part I
06. Balder’s Fall -The End Part II
07. The Final War – The End Part III

Link:
Ereb Altor Myspace

Band
Ragnar -Vocals
Mats – Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards