RAGNAROK – Collectors of the King CD
Regain Records
In the past I considered this band’s brand of black metal decent but always stuck on the second tier below greats like 1349 and GORGOROTH. Much of that had to do with a revolving door line-up especially on vocals. Their last release, 2004’s Blackdoor Miracle, was pretty good and on that one Hoest from fellow Norwegian black metallers TAAKE was behind the mic. Now on this one it’s a new line-up with the exception being drummer Jontho who’s been in the band from their start back in the early nineties. This line-up was finalized in 2008 and soon afterwards recording began for this release which was originally scheduled to come out last year. I was looking forward to it but for some reason it got pushed to a 2010 release date. Either way after a few listens I’m here to tell ya this is certainly the most cohesive sounding release of their long career.
This thing opens with a now obligatory black metal type intro but “Resurrection” is aptly titled and worthy of what this band is about to do. What follows is all out old school cold black metal brutality that Norway was once famous for. “Stabbed by the Horns” is a perfect comeback song to really scream “we’re back and more lethal than before”. New vocalist Hans Fyrste makes you forget that this band had a past. The songs on here are fast blasts which almost remind you of a familiar name from a neighboring country. Although there are the typical missteps on Collectors of the King as in no bass sound, tremolo picked madness run amok and Jontho’s drum work which can get excessive. I still hear some things on here which will cling to you like spattered blood after a gruesome murder. Songs like “In Honour of Satan”, “Eternal Damnation”, the title cut and the closer “Wisdom of Perfection”.
One ironic thought I have about this is that RAGNAROK now sound more like TAAKE then when Hoest sang with em. The similarities as far as the fast tempos, melodic parts that still leave blisters on your ears and a constant temperature drop from the atmosphere within the songs is uncanny. If ya want another similarity then think of that afore mentioned familiar name from a neighboring country as in MARDUK. That’s right, not only was this release recorded in Sweden but the guy who did the engineering was none other than MARDUK bassist Magnus Devo Andersson. There were some in the Norwegian black metal community of years ago who would’ve called that blasphemy albeit unthinkable. Oh well times change and yet the music created and our appreciation of it doesn’t.
www.regainrecords.com
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