Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genres: Doom, Viking Metal, Folk Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Napalm Records refers to Ereb Altor as “Epic Viking Doom”. And while The End is definitely that, I think that Napalm was a little too on the nose with that description. I like to think of this album as more; Nightfall Battlefield Campfire Tales of Tragedy and Bloodshed, Doom… which is a little up the nose, isn’t it?

At any rate, Ereb Altor (which consists of Mats and Ragnar of the awesome Swedish doom troupe, Isole) goes heavy on the Viking lore (hence the tag, I would suppose) with the retelling of the death of Balder and Loki’s treachery afterward and so on. Vocally, The End is littered with haunting clean vocals, spoken word segments, berzerker bellows and his victim’s screams. The guitars range from a doom dirge to acoustic to the occasional blackened shred, while the drummers never really shy away from a mid-tempo, keeping this flaming boat of a precession on it’s steady course to Valhalla!

Overall: Mixing Viking themes with funeral doom and an impalement of black metal, Ereb Altor carve out a deep niche in the already crowded folk/Viking genre with their unabashed dedication and thought provoking sound.

8.5/10

Ereb Altor on MySpace

Originally seen on E-MetalSpace

Genres: Doom, Viking Metal
Label: Napalm Records

“…My soul cannot rest…”
The End is so damn good. Doomy as hell, but not the plodding variety. The faster, more Black Sabbath-tinged variety that’s heavy as hell. Think The 11th Hour or November’s Doom.
I just realized as I typed that that The 11th Hour and Ereb Altor are label mates. Damn those people at Napalm sure know how to pick ‘em.
Anyway, like I was saying, this is a damn good album. It’s got the doom going on, as well as the Viking metal sound, something like a heavier Tyr or a less death metal Amon Amarth.
If you’re a fan of any of the bands I’ve just mentioned, you might want to check out Ereb Altor. The band, for your own info, consists of Ragnar and Mats, the two gents behind Isole’s doomy anthems, and traces its origins to pre-Isole under the name Forlorn, in the 90′s.
8 out of 10.

Ereb Altor on MySpace.