King of Asgard-Karg

Published: Absolute Underground #59 August/September 2014

KING OF ASGARD is a viking metal band from Sweden. A four piece band of accomplished metal musicians. They have released a few album over the last ten years. Most of the songs getting inspiration from viking sagas and tales of battles, so typical for the genre but I think they do it better than most. As some of you may remember I became a bit of a fanboy when I reviewed their last album back in the old days of 2012. I'm sure nothing is going to change as the last two albums released by this group were pretty wicked.
Even in the first few songs I can tell this is the making of another great album, strong delivery and story-telling for starts. Good guitar tone flows through the tracks and makes you feel like the drums are hoofbeats. Karl Beckman's voice sounds like walking through crunchy snow under your feet while you trudge through a forrest. #3"Highland Rebellion" changes the pace a little bit with a little harmonics throughout but it's still picks up it's pace and gets pumping. There's not a lot of what I would call soloing in these songs but the twin guitar work is really solid.  "Omma" has the epic feel with the piano intro that breaks up the middle of the album. Then it's back to the battle and the saga. The bonus track at the end is called "Total destruction" and kind of has a punk rock feel to it. It's not in the same vein as the rest of the album but I like it as a good finisher.
As expected I love this album and will continue to be a gushy little fanboy about it. It's hard not to like it for a lot of reasons. The album as a whole isn't too long and flows past in one enjoyable sitting. If you're a fan of just metal in general start by checking out past songs from these guys online, they're everywhere. This album follows up where the last one ended. Songs that will make you feel like you're running through the snow with a sword in your hand ready to battle and die like all of your heroes who did the same in past years.


Michael F Carnage

http://www.kingofasgard.com/