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Review:
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Seeing as the album is entirely in German, I had better
explain what it is all about. Shortly after the Roman Empire
crumbled legend tells us that a Burgundian royal family
called the Nibelung settled in Worms, Germany. Their most
famous descendants were King Siegfried and his Queen, Brunhilder.
This legend then got so mixed up with countless different
Germanic and Norse tales that it is impossible to tell fact
from fiction, and unlike the contemporary King Arthur, they
never coalesced into a consistently coherent story and cast
of characters, no one can even agree on the spelling of
Brunhilder, let alone who she was. The main crux of the
saga was a ring of gold that gave the owner world domination,
and the various battles fought for its possession (where’s
Indiana Jones when you need him?). The most famous adaptations
are Wagner’s ‘The Ring’, and of course, ‘What’s Opera Doc’
with Elmer Fudd’s immortal, ‘Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit,
(all together now) KILL THE WABBIT!’ However, this Austrian
warband certainly take these legends seriously, creating
an almighty, epic, symphonic metal soundtrack to these stories.
Three singers help to portray the various characters, Werner
Bialek – melodic male, Bruder Cle – aggressive male, and
the undoubted star of the show, the seductive Sandra Schleret
(Elis) with her rich, soaring, semi operatic vocals.
Alex Krull (Leaves Eyes, Atrocity) supplies his customarily
exemplary production job, and indeed the closest parallel
is with Leaves Eyes, only with more menace, power metal
and drama. I’ll put it like this, in a punch up between
the Vikings and the Nibelung, my money’s on the Nibelung.
The album is made up of nine epic anthems that swirl from
terror to soaring refrains to orchestral gothic grandeur.
They conjure up images of battles, knights, maidens, castles,
blood, despair, greed, power, love and hate, helped by the
excellent artwork. ‘Brunhild’ (see what I mean about the
different spellings) and ‘Totenwacht’ (please excuse the
pronunciation) are choir drenched melodramatic showcases
for Sandra’s extraordinary voice. This album batters the
brain with its aural assault, in the nicest possible way,
and is a damn site more fun than sitting through 15 hours
of Wagner. Being on Napalm there is no need to go on an
epic quest to Valhalla and battle Wotan, King of the Gods,
to get a copy; it is easily available from all the usual
outlets.
9 out of 10
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