Band:	Helrunar
Album:	Baldr Ok Íss
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	October 2007

01. Dickichtgott
02. Loka Lögsaga
03. Schwarzer Frost
04. Baldr
05. Íss
06. Winter
07. Glámr
08. Hunta And Boga
09. Til Jarðar
10. Baldrs Draumar

With the wind violently raging, acoustic strumming across the sky, the drums beating in rhythm with the vikings and their bloodlust and a german voice uttering eerie words, the atmosphere is great from the start. The omens of Pagan Black Metal, a genre that I don't regularly listen to and therefore find hard to value, darken the sky. Helrunar is on the warpath!

Fans who like their metal black, and who can also appreciate a band like the Swedish Månegarm, should definitely give this a try. Eventhough Helrunar relies much more on Black Metal, the folk influences are definitely present. A plucked intro or a folkish riff here and there, but most of all the vocals that are schorching, relentless pagan screams. Nothing that hasn't been done before, but we cannot all be genius minds and innovators, right? Skald Draugir and his bandmates seem to have understood that and instead they focus on refining the old ideas. So they do what they do best: raging metal and dark atmospheres. When they are slowing down a bit, such as in "Hunta And Boga" (with a male choir) they also lose my attention a bit. Unfortunatly, at the end of the album the slower songs take over and they make the album drag on. A shame, since they started out fiercely.

Helrunar is a band that knows what it wants, and how it should be done. A strong album like "Baldr Ok Íss" is the result of such confidence. Fans of the aforementioned Månegarm and Pagan Black Metallers in general will not be disappointed by this release.