Bornholm - Inexorable Defiance
Inexorable Defiance is an interesting album. When I first listened to it, I couldn’t shake the notion that I’d heard the guitar style somewhere else before, but in a different genre. I’ve seen this band classified as Black Metal on various sites, but this isn’t Black Metal in the traditional sense (Metal music played for the greater glory of Satan/Satanic ideology). This is Viking/Pagan Metal, but not in the Folk Metal style that is generally associated with that genre. Most of the Viking/Pagan Metal bands I’ve heard use Folk rhythms or instrumentation in their sound. It inevitably leads to the whole “beer tent at the Renaissance Faire” thing that irritates so many people. Bornholm doesn’t do this. The guitar style is pure Rotting Christ. If Viking-Era Bathory was reinterpreted by Rotting Christ, the result would sound a lot like what is on Inexorable Defiance. It’s an interesting combination, which is why I like it. That and the fact that I’m a huge Rotting Christ fan. I’ve heard quite a few different interpretations of the Viking Metal style, but this is the first time I’ve heard a Viking Metal band use the darkly melodic guitar style that you get from Rotting Christ. The only track on here that isn’t awesome is their cover of Bathory’s “Valhalla” - which isn’t a bad rendition. The playing is faithful to the original, for the most part. The song just doesn’t really fit here. The style is just so different from the rest of the album that it sticks out as an anachronism. Lyrically and thematically, it fits right in with the other songs. Musically, though, it breaks the flow of the album. It isn’t a serious detraction, but it’s something of an annoyance. I still highly recommend this, though.
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