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Adorned Brood

Asgard (Re-release)

Written by: TL on 22/12/2009 13:45:53

Half a year ago I became acquainted with the German pagan metallers Adorned Brood, via their newest record "Noor". It was a rather positive impression the five-piece made, and hence I didn't really hesitate to sign up when we also received the re-release of their older album "Asgard" in the post. According to promotional material, "Asgard" marked a step up for the band compared to their two prior albums and is, I quote: "a milestone in the german pagan underground scene". I would wonder if a scene titled as such, would contain any bands beside Adorned Brood themselves, but then again, it is Germany, so probably more than I can imagine.

Nevertheless, I have no problem believing "Asgard" to be a sort of breakthrough album for Adorned Brood, because listening to it, you simply feel that it is a record made by a band who have reached a point where they know what they're doing, and can record their ideas and still have the energy to give things a homogeneous feel and provide a fitting atmospheric soundscape. As such, Adorned Brood's folk/pagan metal does not sound much inferior here, compared to what it does on "Noor", and likewise, bands like Turisas, Ensiferum and Moonspell ('s newest record at least) are still first to mind when it comes to making comparisons. The band is made from a dynamic between moody folk pieces, driven by clean guitar, flute pieces and clean female singing - and darkened metallic gallops, where the guitars and male vocals both enter black metal mode and encourages some healthy headbanging in the listener.

That dynamic seems to be the difference between "Asgard" and "Noor" (the only other Adorned Brood album I've heard), as here, there seems to be less use of the elements that land in between the two extremes. "Noor" was given many singalongable moments with both clean female lines and viking gang vocals, which provided good folk-metal hooks for the mind to latch onto, and envisioning swinging a pint back and forth while shouting along at a live show wasn't that hard. "Asgard" is more inclined towards the extreme end of metal than that, with the moody, tribal parts being more elusive and the metal parts being, well, more metal. It's more of a wind-millers album, and more of a composed listen, concept story about a warrior and his father and all, but it doesn't offer as much in terms of highlights if you ask me.

Simply put, "Asgard" seems to have been the first of Adorned Brood's very well-crafted pagan metal albums, but compared to the new record "Noor", it's more of an album you put on to provide a background mood, than it is one you put one because this song or that song had that really cool part you just can't get out of your mind.

Download: A God Ruled Time, Black Beasts
For The Fans Of: Turisas, Ensiferum, Moonspell
Listen: myspace.com/adornedbroodde

Release Date 09.10.2009
Black Bards Entertainment