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August 29, 2008 |
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01. Midvinterblod
02. Haunting The Runes
03. Superior Winds
04. Threshold Of The Unseen
05. The Burning Season
06. As Creation Wept
07. Loki's Fury
08. Drifting Of Ull
09. Thirteen Oars Of Misfortune
10. While You Lie Bleeding
11. Gammellandet
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Hailing from the great white north, Thunder Bay, Canada's own BLOODAXE have finally released their album "Raping The Ancient", a disc that was originally recorded in 2002. Filled with aggression, anger, and hatred, there is nothing nice going on here. The packaging is cold and imposing, bleak and sinister, while lyrically, the topics touch on killing, rape, death, and destruction.
When I put the disc into my CD player, the first thought that came to mind was "Man, this reminds me of BATHORY!" And it really does. The compressed sound, the endless blastbeats, and the vocals are all reminiscent of the mighty BATHORY (R.I.P. Quorthon). This is pure, chilling, old school Viking metal - the likes of which I haven't heard in a long time . If you think that you'll be listening to DIMMU BORGIR or CRADLE OF FILTH...well, you won't be. This is not symphonic or orchestrated in any way - rather full of distorted guitars/vocals and blastbeats. The album is an intense listen, and definitely not for those uninitiated to this style of music.
The production job on "Raping The Ancient" is simple to the point of being non-existent, while the mix is a little muddled with very little top or bottom end. The drum levels are almost overwhelming throughout the entire disc; the vocals are way back in the mix, and it's almost impossible to hear any bass at all.
To break this album down song by song would be a fairly repetitive endeavor, as the first four or five songs sound very, very similar. If I wasn't following along with the lyrics, then I would not have known that we had moved on to a new song. The tunes run together and sound incredibly similar with all of the 'melody' lines and dynamics remaining unvaried. There's a definite intensity on the album, but not much variety to be found. The instrumental "Loki's Fury" tells the tale of the main character, and though the actual song itself does not have any vocal content, the lyrics in the CD booklet are meant to explain who Loki was.
The two highlights of "Raping The Ancient" come near the end of the disc in the form of "Thirteen Oars Of Misfortune" and "While You Lie Bleeding". Both of these songs are a change of pace from the onslaught of blastbeats, and feature more of a drum groove. "While You Lie Bleeding" has an interesting vocal effect in, and the spoken word ending adds to the cold feeling you get from the album as a whole.
BLOODAXE do what they do very well. There isn't anything that wasn't planned on this CD. However, "Raping The Ancient" is an album that will probably most likely only appeal to those fans of very old-school Viking metal. There really isn't anything modern-sounding about the album, and it might seem a tad monotonous to those who don't love the genre. If you are a fan of this genre, however, you will find BLOODAXE's "Raping The Ancient" to your liking.
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