Band:	Ereb Altor
Album:	Fire Meets Ice
Style:	Pagan black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	July 26, 2013
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Fire Meets Ice
02. The Chosen Ones
03. Nifelheim
04. My Raven's
05. Sacrifice
06. Helheimsfard
07. The Deceiver Shall Repent
08. Post Ragnarok
09. Our Legacy

As redundant as the whole Viking/Norse Mythology theme can get within metal, every now and then you see a band come along who actually do make it interesting, and inject the cliché nature of it with a strong, focused sense of direction. While Fire Meets Ice from the Swedish Ereb Altor might not be all that jaw dropping-ly original, it's certainly powerful and hard-hitting, and is good testament to the fact that Pagan Black Metal isn't just some overdone, tasteless style, and actually still has some life left in it.

Fire Meets Ice kicks off with the title track, a 9 minute opener with nice little piano intro, an excellent blend of clean and black metal vocals, and a very good deal of? doom? Yes, doom. The overall tempos and riffage on Fire Meets Ice follow along a very steady, epic pace, and in many ways this helps to better reinforce the whole Viking theme. Indeed, the rhythms of many of the tracks can often give the listener the impression of a 10th-century Norse legion marching off to war ("The Chosen Ones," the middle of "Nifelheim," and "Sacrifice," in particular). There's a very masculine (though somehow not too cheesy) vibe that follows along this theme throughout Fire And Ice, as if the tracks are all ceremonial battle tunes of some sort: perfect for having a few ales with your buddies before embarking on a crusade to dispel those annoying Jehovah's Witnesses from your front doorstep.

In addition, Ereb Altor's 2013 effort strikes a very commendable balance of sound throughout its duration. Aside from the blend of the clean vocals and the shrieks, music-wise there's also a nice blend of heavier tracks ("Helheimsfard," "Post Ragnarok,") and some more epic tracks that even feel a little ballad-y at some points ("Nifelheim," "My Ravens," "Our Legacy"). It's a neat delivery, because it somewhat feels as if the band were trying to capture two sides of the Viking heritage with these approaches: the battle-loving warrior on the one side, and the spiritual journey-seeker on the other.

Fire Meets Ice honestly sounds a lot like a modern take on Viking-era Bathory. The delivery is very reminiscent of Twilight Of The Gods: catchy, riff-heavy guitar parts, some more relaxed melodies, deep, operatic clean vocals, and some extra black metal elements thrown in to make the formula a bit more interesting. Ereb Altor come across as the natural heirs to Quorthon with this release, and while it may not be creative to the point of knocking you flat off your ass, it certainly is a force to be reckoned with, and well worth checking out for any serious fan of black, viking, or doom metal. Give it a peek over here.