Ereb Altor - The End

March 23, 2010

Reviewer: Matt

One of 2008’s under-noticed doom metal albums was By Honour, the debut of Sweden’s Ereb Altor, a project of two members of Isole.  By Honour was described as Viking doom, which played out as Ereb Altor fusing Bathory’s Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods into Isole’s epic doom metal.  The result was a satisfying album, and The End, continuing that approach, is a welcome follow-up that meets or exceeds the debut on every level.

With a quick step up to Napalm and the attendant access to a professional production, Ereb Altor has achieved a sound on The End that renders their thunderous battle hymns in a truly heavy and epic light.  Multi-layered electric guitars, sprinkled acoustic guitars, choirs, and the occasional black metal rasp, all these elements combine in songs showcasing the band’s aptitude for dense arrangement and versatile composition.

The End has pretty much everything you could want out of an epic doom metal album.  In the best tradition of early Manowar, mid-career Bathory, and Solstice, Ereb Altor loaded The End full of towering riffs and absolutely massive vocal hooks.  From rousing opening anthem “Myrding” to the three-part title suite closing out the album, there are so many fist-pumping, sword-swinging passages that repeated listens are mandatory.  Chorus after chorus, riff after riff, all stick in your head like glue.    

It would be easy to write off Ereb Altor as band that too blatantly wears its influences on its sleeves, and as accurate as that assessment may be, it does a major disservice to a band that excels at larger-than-life songwriting.  Traditional metal tends to rank further down my preference list than the more extreme subgenres for its tendency to rely too heavily on formulaic song structures, but Ereb Altor writes traditional metal that’s complex, engaging, and enduring.  One of the most satisfying releases I’ve reviewed so far in 2010, The End is an album I recommend to metal fans across the board.  

Release Date: March 26th, 2010
Label: Napalm Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Entering (Myrding Prologue)
2.  Myrding
3.  Our Failure
4.  A New But Past Day
5.  Vargavinter (The End Part I)
6.  Balder's Fall (The End Part II)
7.  The Final War (The End Part III)

Total playing time:  48:17

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