Year : 2025
Style : Viking Black Metal , Folk Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 124 mb
Bio:
Månegarm is a Swedish Viking/black metal band from Norrtälje. The band's name is derived from Mánagarmr, a wolf in Norse mythology.The band was started by Svenne Rosendal, Jonas Almqui, and Pierre Wilhelmsson in 1995. After finding another guitarist (Mårten Matsson) and a drummer (Erik Grawsiö), they began rehearsing as "Antikrist". By 1996, they had changed their name to Månegarm, after the wolf of Norse legend, apt for a band concentrating on Viking metal, and early that year, they began recording their first demo collection, Vargaresa (Wolf's Journey).After the recording, Rosendal and Matsson left to be replaced by Jonny Wranning (vocals) and Markus Andé (guitar).With a second demo, Ur Nattvindar, folk metal became part of their sound, including violins and female vocals for the first time, and they were signed by Displeased Records. Soon afterwards, Wranning left the band and was replaced by Viktor Hemgren. At the end of the year, they went back into Sunlight studios to record their first full-length album, Nordstjärnans Tidsålder (The Age of the Northstar).In summer 1999, they began recording their next album, Havets Vargar. Because of some difficulty with the recording studio, they took some time off from recording the album, during which, Viktor Hemgren was fired. Grawsiö took over as vocalist along with his drumming. Also during this time, Janne Liljekvist was added as a full member. With the line up now set, they finished recording the album and released it in 2000.The band's two demos were remastered and released as an album in 2004, with a fourth studio album, Vredens Tid (Age of Wrath), issued in 2005, followed by performances on the European festival circuit that summer. After one further EP on Displeased, a completely acoustic folk music EP, Urminnes Hävd (The Forest Sessions), the band moved to the Swedish label Black Lodge, which issued the group's sixth album, Vargstenen (Wolf Stone) in 2007.A new album called Nattväsen was released on October 22, 2009, by Regain Records.At the end of June/beginning of July 2013 (dates vary depending on territory) they released a new album, Legions of the North, through Napalm Records.
Album:
I'm not gonna beat around the bush, I had an immediate, strong, and very positive reaction to Edsvuren right from the get-go! In fact, while I was rocking through the first couple of songs, my thought process went something like: “YEEEESSSSS!!!!”The reason is that the album is more diverse, more complex, and features more ideas than their last three or four albums. While Fornaldarsagor and Ynglingaättens öde were a bit simplistic and formulaic, their self-titled album before those was a bit all over the place and didn't quite seem to fit together, and Legions of the North lacked the violin, had some cringy songs and even cringier lyrics (hopefully the last time we'll get English language songs from Månegarm), Edsvuren is more balanced as a whole, more mature, and presents itself as an engaging and fascinating sound journey.Additionally, this album features great overall sound quality! It feels well-rounded and really packs a powerful punch when the songs are loud, fast, and dark. I also enjoyed the sound mixing, it all fits together well, whereas on Ynglingaättens öde I often felt that the singers voice was overpowering the music in places. Not so much here, every instrument and voice finds its best level for maximum impact.The album is made up of an eclectic mix of metal and acoustic tracks, the latter often feature additional female vocals. There are two full-sized acoustic songs, Till Gudars Följe and Edsvuren, whereas the two and half-ish minute tracks Rodhins Hav, I Runor Ristadens Orden and the outro Ofredsfylgjor are more adjacent to mood piece filler tracks.I like to recommend some songs in my reviews, but for this album I'm hard-pressed to do so, simply because I can't really narrow it down! Any of the first three, I Skogsfruns Famn, Lögrinns Värn, and En Blodvittneskrans are a blast, but I think Lögrinns Värn is probably my favourite. Then there are two amazing deeply melancholic yet powerful midtempo bangers back to back, En Nidings Dåd and Hör Mitt Kall, if that is your thing, or you can try the long and varied Skild Från Hugen, the uber-epic Likgökens Fest, or even the witchy-sounding and acoustic title track Edsvuren.Now, is this album perfect? No, but I think it comes close! Is this a serious contender for Månegarm's best album? Again, no. In my humble opinion that title goes to Vargstenen. But is this album their best effort in over a decade and a half? If you ask me, I'd answer that with an emphatic yes! And since this is one of my favourite bands of all time, my 90% rating is likely biased, but hopefully understandable.Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an album to listen to over and over again!
Line Up:
Erik Grawsiö - Drums (1996-2010), Vocals (2000-present), Bass (2010-present) - See also: ex-Cthulhus Scorn, ex-Desperator, ex-Strhate Edge, ex-Obscurity
Markus Andé - Guitars (1996-present)
Jacob Hallegren - Drums (2011-present) - See also: Angrepp, Fredlös, Viþer, ex-Valkyrja (live)
Tracklist:
01. I skogsfruns famn 05:21
02. Lögrinns värn 04:12
03. En blodvittneskrans 04:04
04. Rodhins hav 02:40
05. Till gudars följe 04:07
06. En nidings dåd 06:02
07. Hör mitt kall 03:27
08. I runor ristades orden 02:18
09. Skild från hugen 07:06
10. Likgökens fest 04:52
11. Edsvuren 04:20
12. Ofredsfylgjor 02:19
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
