2010 23
Grand Magus – Hammer Of The North
Grand Magus has always been an awesome band- from their earlier albums for Rise Above Records, when they used to play stoner rock- to their recent, more metal direction. Hammer Of The North continues this winning streak. It’s an unpretentious slab of Viking- inspired ferocity. For the uninitiated, they sound like a mixture of latter- day Bathory, Judas Priest, Dio- era Black Sabbath and various NWOBHM groups. And Kristian Wåhlin’s artwork is a dead giveaway for the lyrical subject matter (Wåhlin- a.k.a. Necrolord, has done covers for Bathory, Firewind, Merciful Fate, Tiamat, Therion, Amorphis, etc., and is closely associated to the Swedish extreme metal scene). Basically, if you are going to sing about berserker warriors, ice- covered steppes, wolves, broadswords and other George R. R. Martin- inspired stuff, THIS is the way to do it. With conviction, heaviness and gnarly riffs.
(-Dimitris Kontogiannis-)
About the Author: CnB
on “Grand Magus – Hammer Of The North”