Graveland - Raise Your Sword!
When a band releases an EP with only two new songs and one re-recorded version of an older track, I tend to feel ripped off. Not this time. Leave it to Graveland to release a three song EP that clocks in at just a hair under 30 minutes. I guess that puts it up there with Summoning and their Nightshade Forest EP (which clocked in at 45 minutes but had four songs) when it comes to value for money. Much like Creed of Iron and Immortal Pride, Raise Your Sword! contains huge doses of Slavic Folk rhythms and tempos. Also present in large doses is that Hammerheart-era Bathory Viking chorus. I assume that keeps with the band’s new ideology. If my guess is correct, the change in their logo reflects a conversion to Asatru. The upside-down cross in their logo has been replaced by the Hammer of Thor symbol and a lot of Darken’s lyrics reflect ideas found in the book Creed of Iron. The keyboards are a little more dominant that on Creed of Iron, which was more of a guitar album, but it never seeps into overuse. The song “W Objecia Smierci” is a different version of “Into Death’s Arms,” and though it doesn’t sound a whole lot different than the original, it does have lyrics in Polish. I think Graveland has found their little niche and though I really enjoy their music, my greatest fear is that they will stagnate and keep rehashing the same stuff over and over again.
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