Band:	Siebenbürgen
Album:	Grimjaur
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	1998
Guest review by:	Ernis

01. Grimjaur
02. Vintervila
03. Nattskräcken
04. Slottet Auragon
05. För Mig? Ditt Blod Utgsjutet
06. Dödens Svarta Fana
07. Luna Luciferi
08. I Döden Fann Hon Liv
09. Vargablod
10. Ibi Cubavit Lamsa

Siebenbürgen, a black metal act from Sweden, released their second album "Grimjaur" in 1998, but have unfortunately now disbanded. This is an album which may not be the masterwork but is still beautiful in the field of its genre.

The album starts creating a required atmosphere in the very beginning of the first track by mysterious bell tolls. Sounds catchy enough though Siebenbürgen is not the only band who have used the sound of a church bell as an introduction to their album. Let's have the infamous Horde for instance with "Hellig Usvart".

The black metal atmosphere and sound is present throughout the album. Marcus Ehlin provides quality vocals and his pronounciation of the Swedish language helps immensely in creating the "northern" mood. A huge plus is definitely the female singer Lovisa Hallstedt. Her haunting voice is a fine partner for the gnarling of Marcus. At the same time her chanting will never turn into too lyrical or over-operatic wailing which would, in this case, make the songs slightly too cliché-like or bear the pejorative "beauty and the beast" logo. An interesting and a bit sad fact here is that after the release of this album the band did the same thing to Lovisa that was years later done to Tarja Turunen by Nightwish. It was said that the band members were not satisfied with the performance of Hallstedt on "Grimjaur" which lead to departure of the singer and replacement by Kicki Höijertz. Difficult to understand since her vocals added very much to the music of the band and made the first two albums so special.

There are several particularly enjoyable tracks on this album. "Nattskräcken" is brutal and sinister, ready to strike the listener with every sound. "För Mig... Ditt Blod Utgutet" displays a fine and catchy folk-inspired duet by Marcus and Lovisa. The album is ended by a calm and dreaming acoustic ballad "Ibi Cubavit Lamia" sung entirely by Lovisa.

"Grimjaur" is a fine album by Siebenbürgen. There is nothing to frown upon when speaking of this work of theirs. Perhaps many songs of the album may start to have a monotonous impact on the listener when played for a longer period of time but the musicians have done a grand job and the music is performed well. With "Grimjaur" Siebenbürgen continued their atmospheric cold and mysterious path on the landscape of music.