THYRFING - Urkraft
December 21, 2000, 23 years ago
(Hammerheart)
Well, for all those who already realize and are resigned to the fact that you can't hear the lyrics in the vocals of extreme metal, it won't matter much that these young Swedes are sticking to their guns, Urkraft (it means "primordial force", although I think combined with the band name, it means "thrifty airline") mixing Swedish and English at will, they say, depending on what the song requires, whatever that means. But whatever they're doing, keep doing it, because the overall effect is an intoxicating collection of grimy melodic Swedish death, dripped with the red wax 'n' wine of goth, recorded not so hot, sort of like if Dark Tranquillity went back to the garage with their present song skills. I dunno, I almost hear Viking era-Bathory on this thing, Thyrfing (OK, means "sword") definitely going retro with their majestic antifreeze rock, but that means there's actually music in these grooves, Thyrfing possibly copping to the fact that people are, more often than not, digging the new mainstream hail 'n' roll sounds from Enslaved and Immortal. Nice muscle beach drums, although horrid keyboards, the kind of thing you hear from Hungarian teenagers. But I'm digging the songs, especially come left field cover Gary Moore's 'Over The Hills And Far Away' (that kind of talk rankles the band to no end).
