Black Messiah

What is happening here? I remembered BLACK MESSIAH as pretty ok melodic Black Metal band, I have their 98 debut 'Sceptre Of Black Knowledge' somewhere, but what the guys unleash here on 'Oath Of A Warrior', seven years later, still bears some resemblance, but this is Viking Metal and after EQUILIBRIUM the best that I have ever heard coming out of Germany!

The guys also have done this change visually, with a strong new logo, Viking-ish clothing, partly German lyrics and new label, what we have here is a pretty complete style change, which does not target any really hip style, but is cohesive and with 'Oath Of A Warrior' the Westphalians lead a blade that should send their enemies screaming.

BLACK MESSIAH lead a really sharp blade and after the calm intro 'Götterdämmerung' the opener 'A New Messiah' bears a title as it could hardly be more fitting, because here the band more or less re-defines itself, with fat double-bass that would make a dragon ship give an elephant water ski potential, Zagan's harsh voice, epic keyboards, great melodies that excellently go hand in hand with the heaviness, cohesive, powerful, melodic, Viking Metal at its best, a very good start for this CD, which is even furthered with 'Blutsbruder', with martial German text and great atmosphere, which then is crowned by a mandolin passage, which sounds great and gives the song something really special, original, a song full of power, but with intricacies that capture the listener.

'Bury The Lambs Of Christ' is a super atmospheric song that realizes the majesty of the Nordic nature, the keyboards are not used to fill holes, but put down the foundation on which they build a powerful song structure that are complemented with cool violins, one highlight after the other so far, with melodies that, as on the distant debut, hold this certain Eastern European touch, which sets the band apart from the masses and shows that they do not only try to find their own sound, but actually have found it. Just take the duo 'Setting Sails' and 'Riding The Drakkar' (with the first being some sort of introduction) that combines majesty, heaviness and dynamics in a great way, with different rhythms, great pressing double-bass and all, great, simply great!

'Feld der Ehre' then is only sung cleanly, extremely placative in the lyrics, but the atmosphere is more than convinving and on 'My Way To Asgard' we also get some female vocals, before 'Der Eid' takes up the folky melodies again. The at times extremely clichéd lyrics against Christendom are the only points of criticism I could throw at 'Oath Of A Warrior', because the music is full of variety, ideas, power and majesty, which makes BLACK MESSIAH's comeback a very enjoyable and recommendable Viking Metal expedition that I want more of!

音樂風格: 搖滾

資源格式: MP3

發行時間: 2009年03月12日

地區: 德國

語言: 德語

音樂類型：Symphonic Black / Folk / Viking Metal

壓縮碼率：320 kbps

歐洲金屬迷看到這個封面想到第一個關鍵詞也許是哥德堡旋律死，很遺憾，這是一張赤果果的維京金屬。Black Messiah 的封面一直被人詬病，畢竟他們的音樂幾乎無可挑剔，整張專輯，如魔獸世界獸族大逃亡一般彪悍兇猛：戰士衝鋒陷陣、法師呼風喚雨、惡魔怒死斬殺....

開場的Prologue - The Discovery，伴隨著馬塌怒潮之勢，伴隨著深沉凝練的主唱獨白，戰爭的大幕緩緩開啟，千萬表被開場相對的死寂所迷惑。很快，陣陣solo之後，黑嗓噴涌而出，華麗的編曲正如諸神之王奧汀帶領阿斯神族與他們的宿敵巨人族進行激烈的抗戰，似乎是首戰大捷，第三首歌Gullveig歡快而舒暢，阿斯神族圍著火堆抱著女人盡情熱舞，你吹笛子我敲鼓，你吼嗓子我撥弦...歡快的阿斯神族人突然被陣陣鑼鼓驚醒，巨人族趁阿斯神族人熟睡之際，衝進阿斯神族人的村落濫殺無辜，塗炭生靈，為了保護奧汀的安全，阿斯神族主要的將領跟隨著奧汀向西方遠行，奧汀騎著駿馬遙望火光四射的村落，內心憤怒，衝天地長嘯，這便是第四首歌Von Rachsucht und Lüge，激烈的鼓聲、哀怨的死嗓、悲傷的氛圍。

整張專輯似乎是一則由耄耋老人娓娓道來的史詩傳說，在經過了第5首歌獨白的過渡之後，隨後的兩首歌一開始便是酣暢而決絕的黑嗓，正如奧汀養精蓄銳之後帶領著殘存的阿斯神族人走上復仇之路，斯萊布尼爾載著奧汀從遠古的挪威殺過瑞典，直奔巨人之族的巢穴，沿路死傷無數，戰火瀰漫於北歐的冰雪大地上...在震天的戰鼓與歡呼聲之中，第八首歌The Chase開啟了奧汀與巨人族的決戰，第九、第十同樣以激烈的鼓聲與怒潮的死嗓搭配為主，重在表現戰爭場面的宏大與慘烈。

第十一首歌Peace At High Price，以獨白開啟了戰爭的尾章部分，不管是奧汀大勝巨人族，還是阿斯神人遭遇滅族悲劇。一樣的結局是戰爭之後的滿目瘡痍，所以第十二首歌Andacht缺少了激烈的旋律，而以民謠的吟唱與編曲開場，緩緩道出一曲英雄的悲壯輓歌，尤其是高潮部分，無盡的憂傷伴隨著震天的戰鼓而瀰漫於全身，這首歌長達9分41秒，雖不能代表整張專輯的整體風格，但從歌者的情感訴註上看，卻是最為濃墨重彩的一首。最後一首歌，似乎在歌唱人們在戰爭之後重新揚起生活的風範，歡快的節奏，淳樸的氛圍，在血火腥光之後重新定義了生活的美好與積極向上。而結尾出以吐痰聲終了，別有特色，讓人意猶未盡。

Black Messiah，一支來自德國的老牌維京金屬樂隊，以奧汀的名義昭告天下：維京不死，維京永生！