Kampfar

Heimgang
Napalm Records

The eerie opening track "Vantro" starts off with semi-distorted guitars and a mid tempo beat that sets the stage for "Inferno" where the guitars are cranked up a notch (well everything is ) and moves into a raging, venomous onslaught. However, what set's Kampfar apart from the large black metal community, is their thrashy melodic riffs, a more high end sound on the guitars, and lack of blast beats. It somewhat harkens back to earlier times, when this style of music was very primitive, (but you can actually hear the bass on this! ) Another thing is the pagan influence which makes the songs almost "catchy", except there are no traditional folk instruments playing those parts, just guitar, bass and drums. The vocals are pure bile and darkness, but not that different from many other bands in this genre. Still, this was a breath of foul air, that proves there is life left crawling up from the black metal realms.

- Craig Harvey