Band:	King Of Asgard
Album:	Karg
Style:	Viking black metal
Release date:	July 18, 2014
A review by:	Windrider

01. The Runes Of Hel
02. The Trickster
03. Highland Rebellion
04. Remnant Of The Past
05. Omma
06. The Heritage Throne
07. Huldran
08. Rising
09. Total Destruction [bonus]

When comparing to the mighty Amon Amarth, I always had the opinion that King Of Asgard were the better vikings. This got me rude comments even on sites and under videos of the latter mentioned, but I have my reasons. Both are great, yet over the years my interest drifted towards the darker and more authentic side of the genre, including legends like Helheim and newer bands like this one which releases their new album this year, entitled Karg.

Karg is a northern European word for barren, which describes the slightly modified style the band has changed to well. Including one bonus track, the album contains nine songs and runs for about fifty minutes. The listener (who I always imagine to sit down with a cold beer during the first listening, focusing solely on the music) awaits a very typical first song, which was somehow expected in that or a similar way. "The Runes Of Hel" works from the first riff on and catches every headbanger. Nevertheless, the rest of the album is somewhat different.

I'd like to the divide this record into two parts: The first five songs, which each have memorable moments to easily recollect afterwards and the last three (excluding the bonus track), that took me like three or four listens to have something stuck in the head. Most worthy to mention is the song "Highland Rebellion" from the first half, causing a huge earwig after listening just once to it. Still I entitle it my personal favourite one on Karg. When talking about special tracks, of course "Omma" must be mentioned as well. Sounding weird at first but one simply can't resist the catchy chants on it. Uh... after looking over this review again I must add that this very same sentence also applies to "Remnant Of The Past".

Let's talk about production and performance, there's some potential to discuss about. First, what the hell happened to the vocals? Introducing a rather sloppy and lisping style, the album's concept is very reflected here. It takes some time to get used to it, but at some point the variance is appreciated. Apart from that I really dig the band's performance, especially the guitar riffing is one of my favourites throughout the whole genre, the accentuation of each note is awesome. So is the guitar sound, better than ever with lots of punch in it, these guys have really figured it out. On a personal note, I don't like the bass sound too much though, but it's clear that its duty is to pull the overall tone back to the announced barren atmosphere.

What remains is an excellent first part of the album and a still good second part, of which only "Huldran" stands out. As replacement for an outro track, the Bathory cover in the 10th year of Quorthon's death is doing well. The best song awards go to "Highland Rebellion" and all the others of the first five tracks.