The Viking in the Wilderness - reviews and news

(45:08; Aboutmeemo) Track list: 1. A Life Against 3:28 2. Live in Denial 3:36 3. Lack of Passion 3:50 4. It Ended Up Like That 3:50 5. Heaven Mania 3:26 6. Distractions 3:54 7. Feel Safe Again 3:44 8. Song for No One 3:07 9. Another Sky 4:17 10. Hooded Man 3:38 11. Immigrant Lament 4:16 12. Passive Aggressive Scammers 4:02 Line-up: Aboutmeemo - vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards with: Nicola D'Amato - drums Stefano Mancini - drums Ireland based artist Aboutmeemo have been releasing solo material for the better part of a decade by now, releasing his first album back in 2016 and an EP that appeared in 2019. His second full length album "Zugzwang" was originally scheduled for a late 2023 release, but a change of management and labels saw the album release pushed back to the late fall of 2024 and now through Italian label Sorry Mom!. This review is based on the promo distributed in 2023. I guess that the best general description of the music we get here will be classic rock, an...

(36:47; Exa) Track list: 1. Return to Madness 3:44 2. Under His Eye 3:27 3. Dead Child Eyes 4:48 4. Hire to Fire 4:50 5. Mind Free 3:18 6. Left in Shards 4:38 7. Witch Hunt 3:12 8. Cease to Exist 4:07 9. Circadian 0:51 10. King Terror 3:52 Line-up: Leon - drums Tom - vocals, guitars Tamino - bass Hans - guitars German band Exa have been around for a decade or thereabouts at this point, with the band being formed while the members were still fairly young from what I understand. They released their initial debut EP back in 2018, and have released a few singles and one full length album following this. At the start of 2024 they were ready with their second studio album, "Left in Shards", which was self released by the band. While this is a recent band formation with fairly young members, this is a band that appear to know their way around music from yesteryear. Thrash metal being the name of the game here, and the description classic era is a bit of a defining one to use for the...

(62:41; Tim's Favourite) Track list: 1. Connect and Divide 4:24 2. Totalibertarian 7:55 3. Not in Our Name 4:24 4. Filling the Hollow 6:08 5. amaConda 5:15 6. Andy’s Fall 6:16 7. Embarrassment Now (The Road to Heaven) 5:04 8. A Deeper Advantage 3:48 9. Into That Darkness 7:22 10. Phantom in My Head 6:46 11. Fly 5:19 Line-up: Elie De Backer - drums Wolf D'Haese - bass, vocals Jan Pauwels - vocals, guitars Tim Pauwels - guitars, vocals Belgian band Tim's Favourite have been an active band unit for the better part of 25 years from what I can understand, with the band releasing their first album as far back as 2003. New music from them have appeared at irregular intervals since, with their second and third album arriving in 2009 and 2018 respectively. At the start of 2024 the band were ready with their fourth studio creation. This album is called "Amaconda", and was self released by Tim's Favourite. I suspect a nice little discussion could be had among those with ...

(47:53; Rotten Tree Productions) Track list: 1. Reflection 6:46 2. Spectre 6:10 3. Circle 6:05 4. Earth/Dust 7:38 5. Sun 5:50 6. Deliverance 7:56 7. Fall 7:28 Line-up: Steve R.  - vocals, instruments French project SaintSombre is the creative vehicle of one Steve R., and with a Facebook presence establish for this venture as far back as in 2014 it would appear that this is a project that have been in development for some time. This fall SaintSombre released its debut album "Earth/Dust"  through the label Rotten Tree Productions, a label I presume belongs to the artist himself. It is a dark and oppressive landscape we are taken into on this occasion. The songs tend to be repetitive, exploring landscapes of grim and perhaps even bitter desolation as far as mood and atmosphere is concerned. In some regards this is done in a similar manner to bands such as Celtic Frost and Triptykon as far as that aspect of the material is concerned. Musically we are on a slightly different traje...

(40:03; M&O Music) Track list: 1. War Psychos 3:23 2. Survival of The Schoolyard's Fittests 2:49 3. Bloodless Family 3:48 4. Your Children Will Die in Pain 3:48 5. Drugs Are Forever 4:17 6. Depression as a Threat 3:43 7. Economical Eugenism and Modern Slavery 3:22 8. Hypothetical Meritocracy 3:27 9. Government-Infused Fear 4:06 10. Mutagenous Industry 3:39 11. Party Is Over 3:41 Line-up: Guillaume Gandon - vocals Clement Sujdovic - strings Krzysztof Klingbein - drums Benjamin Bellard - bass French band Misfortune was formed back in 2023, according to what I can read on the label website, and this corresponds with the information available on the band's Facebook page. Little other information is given about this venture by the band itself, other than that the main composers appears to be Gandon and Sujdovic, and if any further information is available from the band then this is well hidden. The label does have a full line-up stated though, so one might surmise that this info...

(41:02; Tower of Silence Records) Track list: 1. Ona Kraljuje Sama 4:02 2. Sacrum 3:52 3. In Dogma 5:48 4. Nothing but Filth 2:33 5. Sentinel Hill 5:27 6. Aeshma 3:39 7. Black Mat 1:14 8. Siblicide 2:48 9. Lies Beneath the Golden Ruins 2:42 10. Ellipsis 2:36 11. Tower of Silence 6:21 Line-up: Vedran Nor - vocals, guitars Matko Podobnik - drums with: Tomislav Ferenc - guitars Darjan Fiolić - guitars, vocals, mandolin Croatian band In Dakhma appears to have started out back in 2022, at least according to the Metal Archives website, and earlier this year they appeared with their first slice of recorded material with the single "Lies Beneath the Golden Ruins". In the late fall of 2024 the band was ready with their debut album "He Who Sows the Ground", which appears to have been self-released. It is extreme metal that is the hunting ground of this twosome, and they take on this style of metal in an intriguing manner. They have opted for a fairly rich guitar sound for sta...

(44:08; April Records) Track list: 1. Evangelisten 5:45 2. I Push Too 2:58 3. Degrowth 3:21 4. Procession 6:25 5. Ako Pôjdem 2:38 6. Himmelhænder 3:42 7. The Mind 3:02 8. Jamal 2:57 9. The Mourners 5:43 10. Spinner 2:27 11. Peace Train 5:10 Line-up: Sune Sunesen Rendtorff - piano, synthesizer Carlo Janusz Becker Adrian - trumpet, flugelhorn Frederik Engell - saxophone Michela Turcerová - saxophone Rafał Różalski - bass Simon Forchhammer - drums Danish band Alawari has been around in one form or another at least since 2017, and appeared as recording artists with their self-titled album back in 2022. Two years and a few line-up alterations later they are now back with their second album "Leviathan", which was released through Danish label April Records. It is a more contemporary sounding variety of jazz we get in this case, and an all instrumental variety of the form at that. The use of reeds and brass are mainstay dominant elements throughout, with ample and effective support ...

(46:22; NOS Records / Marracult) Track list: 1. Complete the Task 6:10 2. Somewhere We Have Landed 4:05 3. Underworld Conspiracy 4:55 4. In the Name of 6:34 5. Bite for Freedom 5:16 6. Is It Really All Over? 3:22 7. Sirashka 0:52 8. Where Are You 4:22 9. Try to Get the Sun 3:45 10. Dreaming Laurel Canyon 2:32 11. Turn on the Good Music, Louder! 4:29 Line-up: Deje - sounds, vocals Amerigo Verardi - vocals, sounds Italian duo Maverick Persona started out towards the end of 2023 from what I can see, and the twosome released their debut album just a few months later in the spring of 2024. This appears to be a productive as well as creative partnership, and now in the late fall of 2024 they are back with their second album "In the Name of", which was released through the labels NOS Records and MarraCult. This is a venture that appears to defy most of the style and genre conventions we tend to use when describing music. Not that different style descriptions can't be used here, ...