Band:	King Of Asgard
Album:	Fi'mbulvintr
Style:	Viking black metal
Release date:	August 13, 2010
Guest review by:	Windrider

01. Intro
02. Einhärjar
03. Vämods Tale
04. The Last Journey
05. Never Will You Know Of Flesh Again
06. Wrath Of The Gods
07. Snake Tongue
08. Brethren Of The North
09. Day Of Sorrow
10. Lingering A Sacred Ground
11. Heroes' Brigade
12. Strike Of The Hammer
13. Fi'mbulvintr (Outro)

Welcome to King Of Asgard's debut album Fi'mbulvintr! The first thing you will recognize while listening to this album is the influence of the now almost legendary band Amon Amarth. Both bands share the same style, namely some kind of viking melodic death metal compared with folk and black. One will hear the similiarities pretty soon, the catchy, tremolo ridden guitar riffs, the crushing drums, the obsessive bass and the harsh and dark vocals telling the Sagas of the Norsemen.

But ok, back to King Of Asgard and their debut. What you get here is a bunch of heavy, melodic and catchy songs. Right after the "Intro" your ears will be punished by the main riff of the opener "Einhärjar," for which the band recorded a video. This song is a beast when it comes to hard picked tremolo melodies and stays in the ear from the first listen. "Vämods Tale" follows and gives a complex, but still catchy chorus which seems to be directly taken from the old vikings.
The album consists of eleven great tales, framed with an intro and an outro, most of them are clocking around four to five minutes. It is hard to pick certain songs out of it because they all work greatly together and create a stunning atmosphere, but to name a few songs, we have "Brethren Of The North," which is driven by a yet very progressive riff and "Heroes' Brigade," a strong and brave ballad. All songs are only guitars, bass, drums and vocals, and it is really awesome what King Of Asgard do with this minimum of instruments. Karl Beckmann is the head of this band, he plays both lead and rhythm guitar and gilds this album with his vocals, grim and uncompromising. All members perform on this album simply perfectly, one can listen their experience and talent from the first note on. This can also be seen in the sound of the instruments, I especially love the drum sound on this record with its clear double-bass. Many guitar riffs are more of straightforward and easiness, but the way Karl Beckmann plays them makes them unique somehow!

So, to conclude again, Fi'mbulvintr is a must-have for all fans of Amon Amarth, this band really shows how to blow fresh air into styles that are said to be over and over repeated again. In my wisdom I would even prefer King Of Asgard in comparison to Amon Amarth, but this might be subjective. In a way the band manages to sound new, fresh and unique and they hopefully will continue with that. King Of Asgard have the potential to become a famous band, let's see how they will develop, the road is paved!