Band:	SIG:AR:TYR
Album:	Sailing The Seas Of Fate
Style:	Blackened folk metal
Release date:	2005
Guest review by:	Mindheist

01. Dreaming Of The Dawn
02. Frost On Dead Leaves
03. Under The Dragon Star
04. Snowborne
05. To Cronia
06. The Dead Giant's Tale
07. Urd
08. Verdandi
09. Skuld

If you have come across this review by accident and are about to hit the "Back" button, please don't, because if you do, you'll definitely miss one of the most prolific and yet criminally underrated hidden talents of the past decade. Canada's one-man project SIG:AR:TYR, with their debut Sailing The Seas Of Fate, embraced a new level of folkloric dark magic and somehow kicked the door open for the Viking metal heavyweights to explore the inconspicuous territories of atmospheric instrumentalism they never did.

Sailing The Seas Of Fate bears a striking resemblance to the Beast of Gévaudan (a wolf-like animal which prowled the French province from 1764 to 1767), for its being freakishly soothing, patently sharp, and Rivendell-ish. I said freakishly soothing because I have never felt this relaxed, listening to a metal album while preparing myself to be torn in specks by the supposedly on-the-way exorbitant heaviness and the halberd-like claws which occasionally rise from the dead to roam the deserted seas of fate. Sharp because, Morbid Winter Records clearly failed to dwindle the intense scathing strumming of the acoustic guitar slides and the high-pitched solos that drench the album lock, stock and barrel; and as a result, it might sound unbearable to some people, just like the draconian howling of the Beast. And finally, Rivendell-ish because, to me, only Austria's Rivendell has managed to deliver music as eerie, dulcet and restful as SIG:AR:TYR. Aside from that, Sailing the Seas of Fate is mostly instrumental as the rare moments during which the vocals rise from the ashes are transporting either storytelling whispers or Quorthon-ish screams, putting in words the mind-bending ramble in the depths of the Norse mythology, adding to the gloomy, melancholic aura of this journey, freshness and yet dusty epic vibes. Unfortunately, this band has been shrugged off for quite some time now, and their fanbase pales in comparison to Moonsorrow's, Falkenbach's or Finntroll's, even though SIG:AR:TYR is as deserving of fame as those three?Hell, probably even more!

But Perhaps, that's what Daemonskald (the sole member of SIG:AR:TYR) wants - to stay as far as possible from the spotlights - and that's probably why he signed with Morbid Winter Records instead of the more influential and powerful Regain, Spinefarm or Napalm Records. I think, had he sent the The Stranger EP to one of those three record labels, he would have gotten signed in the blink of an eye, but like I said, he's a solitary beast, and that's a rare quality.

Buckle up your shoes and go get this monster, you won't regret it, I promise. Folks I present you the most underrated album of the past decade coming from one of the most underrated bands of all-time?Sailing the Seas of Fate by SIG:AR:TYR.