| Vardoger | Vaakevandring | Vital Sign | Venia | Völlig Heilig |
| Veni Domine | Vengeance Rising | Visual Cliff |
Viking Metal (slow black metal with influences from Nordic folk music) is a style that fits perfect for all the ancestors of the Vikings up in the cold Nordic countries. So what could be more fitting than a band from Norway that plays Viking Metal? The band I talk about is called Vardoger. After years of waiting they have finally released their EP consisting of five tracks of slow majestic Viking Metal. Silent Witness is my favourite track. An excellent track with hardhitting lyrics: "What is it that you fear? What is it that prevents you from seeking Him? When you got His Spirit to guide you. His angels to hide you. Open up let Him in so that you can be a radical son in the battle for truth." Another great tune is Footprints of Thunder with it's catchy viking sound. The only tracks I can't get into are Desert Pale and Inferno. But the other three tracks are excellent and as a whole Whitefrozen is a really cool cd that gives good hope for the future. Singer in the band is Peter Dahlbakk and his shrilling voice sounds even better here than his growls in Schaliach. As I said a really nice cd for everyone into slow black metal. References: Recommended for fans of Viking Metal. Fans of Antestor and Vaakevandring are also gonna like this cd. Orderinfo: Check with the mailorder companys listed here Back to top
The album can be described in one word - Classic! This surely is the classic of classics! Fans of Thrash will totally love this album and wonder how on earth they could have missed such a classic like this. In my opinion and many others as well this album totally blows all other Thrash albums away, Christian and Secular (non-Christian). When Thrash is this good is blows everything else away. Cause what we hear is Thrash of highest caliber with tons of intensity, speed, variation and razorsharp vocals. The guitar solos shreds, drums solos are simply amazing and the whole band just totally shreds from the first to the last tone. Fans of Bay Area Thrash are gonna drool when they hear this. Thrash is also known for the their radical lyrics and the lyrics on this release is no exception. The lyrics are just as noncompromising as the intense music, but shows a totally other side than bands like Slayer. Cause Vengeance Rising boldly talks about the message in the Bible and what Jesus has done for us. That He died for our sins on the cross, but rose on the third day so we can have fellowship with Him and have our sins forgiven. The title track sums it up well: Jesus became our Human Sacrifice. He loved us so much that He even sacrificed His life for you and I so that we can get to heaven by believing in Him. All it takes is to confess and repent from your sins and ask God to forgive them. If you do this God will forgive your sins and you will get a living relationship with God. That's the main message of the Bible. As extra bonus we get 3 live bonus tracks as well as a very cool interview with the band. Last but not least the tunes on the album has been remastered and the result is a crisper yet fuller sound where you can hear more details than on the original release. So what else can say other than this album simply rules and it's definately the CLASSICS OF CLASSIC! Don't miss this fantastic Thrash album! Website: http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/vengeance.htm Orderinfo: Check with the mailordercompanys listed here Back to top
It is not easy to follow up a classic, but I do think Vengeance Rising did an excellent job with this relase. The album starts off really cool with an intro containing the Lord's Prayer before the heavy Thrash music kicks in on full speed. Like first album almost all tracks on this release are classics. Music is very heavy and varied, although not quite as fast as on Human Sacrifice. Heaviness and catchy riffs is what the band focus on musically on this album. Lyrically Vengeance Rising leaves no doubt in what they believe. Once Dead contains over 100 quotes from the Bible! As bonus there are interviews with 4/5 of the band talking about what caused them to leave the band and their view on the tragic fall of the vocalist Roger Martinez. (Keep him in prayer!) The remastering of this album has given the tracks a crisper yet fuller sound. All in all an excellent Thrash release that shouldn't be missed! I give it a 4+. Website: http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/vengeance.htm Orderinfo: Check with the mailordercompanys listed here Back to top
Venia hails from Finland. Like many other bands from this country they have a girl, Veronica that handles the vocals (and she does it well). Musically speaking it's like a combinationof Heavy Metal and Thrash with plenty of symphonic influences thrown in. Really like that the album is so variated and that it's full of guitar solos and catchy hooks.The catchy hooks and the thrash influences also makes the tunes crunchy and interesting. This release shows that the band has really improved a lot and they have managed to raise to a whole new level and deliver quality through and through. Lyrics are Christcentered and they are both inspiring and encouraging as well. One example is the title track where Venia talks about that it is only when we surrender to Christ and give Him full control of our life that we can live in victory and instead of going in our own strength can let Christ live in us. "When I surrendered God took all my burdens.Now it is not me who live but Jesus lives in me." This album definately shows that the band have improved much from their previous EPs and Victory By Surrender is one of the best releases 2009. I give it a 4+ rating. References: Highly recommended for fans of Heavy Metal, Thrash and Symphonic metal. Fans of Illuminandi especially will definately enjoy this album. Orderinfo: Check with the mailorder companys listed here Website: http://www.veniaband.com Back to top
Venia is hailing from Finland and a couple of the tracks are also in the Finnish language. Their demo was more Heavy Metal-oriented while this cd is more in the thrash vein. The Path is a good example of their new style. Really enjoyable thrash with lots of variation. Heikko is another fave with many harmonies as well as crunchy faster parts. Venia's lyrics often talk about our human limitations and that you can have a new meaning in your life by putting it into God's hands and submit to God. Venia has plenty of talent and variate the tunes well. But the tracks are still too uneven to match the best bands out there. On the first two tracks the tempo is also way too slow, which makes me to lose interest and skip to next track. In coming releases I would like them to do more tunes in the caliber of The Path and Heikko and that they don't slow down too much but keep the tempo up. References: Recommended for fans of thrash and heavy metal. Orderinfo: Check with the mailorder companys listed here Website: http://www.veniaband.com Back to top
This is the first release from these finnish metallers. Typical for their sound is that there area woman (Veronica) that handles the vocals. I'm no big fan of female vocals in metalbut Veronica sounds alright and she has a good voice. Over to the music: Stylewise I would describe their style as straight ahead melodic metal with plenty of hooks.Ei Mun Tarvitse has a nice crunchy melodic rhythm. I totally love Eternal Sanctuary that makes me thinking of Tourniquet. This track plenty of cool timechanges, crunchy hooks, tasty guitar solos and on top of it some violin. Really cool! I hope they do more tunes of this kind. Taivaassa has a great hookfeel and tasty guitars. Genesis and Tormented Souls are also really enjoyable. On the negative side production is somewhat muddy, just like it often is on demos. Besides that this is really good and I like almost all tunes.To sum it up I do hear plenty of talent here, so keep going Venia and keep it melodic! I look forward to next release. This band can go far. This is definately a cd I can recommend and I give it a 3+ rating. Check it out if you want to hear some new fresh melodic metal. References: Recommended for fans of melodic metal. Orderinfo: Check with the website below. Website: http://www.veniaband.com Back to top
These two cds do sound very different from most of the music I have heard. Music is slow and jazzy with a metal twist. All tracks are instrumental. Production is crystalclear. I find the music too slow and too jazzy to really grab me.That doesn't mean it sounds bad, it is just means that this it not my thing. References: Do you want your metal jazzy? Then give this band a try. Orderinfo: Check with the mailorder companys listed here Website: http://www.visualcliff.net Back to top
Veni Domine have had severe problems to get this album out and it has been finished for almost 3 years. But God hears prayers and now the album is finally released. If you haven't heard this band I would describe their sound as progressive, slow and heavy doom metal. With this album they go back to their roots and there are plenty of influences from their first two albums. The vocalist Fredrik has a great highpitched voice. Many think his voice reminds of the singer in Queensryche. Torbjörn is a very competent guitarplayer and he put on some really heavy riffs and solos on the album. Compared to previous albums the tunes are a bit shorter. I wasn't really happy with Spiritual Wasteland. Found it way too progressive. But this album I do like since it is more accessible and has a better flow in the tunes. It truly sounds like they were inspired when they recorded this cd. My favourite tracks are Doom of Man, Eli Lema Sabachtani, The Healing The Mystery, Healer's Face and River of Life I. Many of the lyrics are taken from the Book of Revelation (the last book in the Bible) and talks about how things will be in the future and that we are living in the last days. Veni Domine is back and has put out the best release for a long time. It's still not in pair with their classic Fall Babylon Fall, but it is a big step in the right direction. With some more harmonies added to their sound next release can be even better than Fall Babylon Fall. References: Fans of progressive, slow and heavy doom metal should definately give this a try. Orderinfo: Check with the mailorder companys listed here Website: http://www.venidomine.com Back to top
This is a another new and talented black metal band from Norway. Musically they remind a bit of Crimson Moonlight. Vocals are topnotch, the singer has a nice shrilling voice. First tune is a cool black metal version of the prayer Our Father! You got to hear it to believe it. Good tune. Next tune is pretty repetitive and boring so I hit the skip button. The 3rd and last tune really stands out. Fast, catchy melodic black metal with lots of atmosphere. Great stuff! With more tunes like this they will surely go to the top. The future looks great for this band, check'em out. References: For fans of Crimson Moonlight, Antestor, Dimmu Borgir, Covenant and Emperor. Website: http://home.sol.no/~iumentum/vaakevandring/ Orderinfo: Check with the mailordercompanys listed here Back to top
Vital Sign is hailing from Sweden. The best thing with Vital Sign is their uplifting biblical lyrics that truly give you something from above. Musically they play melodic rock/hardrock with plenty of keyboards. I would say that this is also their biggest problem, since there are just too much keyboards and too little guitars. I also wish the music was more heavy overall. Favourite tracks are Hold On Tight, Lead My Way, Hallelujah and You Died In My Place. I really hope they got heavier and produce more tunes in the way of these in coming releases. Vital Sign has it's moments but the overall problem is that they are slightly too soft for my likening. But fans of Whiteheart and their likes should definately give this a try. References: Check it out if you are into melodic Rock bands like Whiteheart, Magnum etc Website: http://run.to/vitalsign Orderinfo: Check with the mailordercompanys listed here Back to top
This band have a cool logo and use lots of cool biblical imagery. Lyrics are also loud'n'clear. What bugs me is the vocal approach, the singer just sings too high for his own good. Musically Völlig Heilig plays Classic Heavy Metal slightly reminding of Sacred Warrior. Nice riffing, crunchy rhythmes and melodic leads from two guitarists makes the music really enjoyable in most of the tunes. If just the singer changes his singing to the better this band will be very interesting to watch in the future. Orderinfo: Mail the band at vollig_heilig@yahoo.com.br Back to top or mainpage |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z DVD© Johannes Jonsson 1997-2011 e-mail: johannes@metalforjesus.org |