Band:	Elvenking
Album:	Reader Of The Runes - Rapture
Style:	Folk metal, Power metal
Release date:	April 28, 2023
A review by:	tominator

01. Rapture
02. The Hanging Tree
03. Bride Of Night [feat. Heike Langhans]
04. Herdchant
05. The Cursed Cavalier
06. To The North
07. Covenant
08. Red Mist
09. Incantations
10. An Autumn Reverie
11. The Repentant

Well paced, powerful and varied: yes, this is another spellbinding record from Elvenking.

It’s all about balance. What do I mean by that? Well, folk metal is in my opinion one of these subgenres that is extremely delicate. Don’t have enough folk elements, and you sound like a bog-standard power metal album. Exaggerate with them, and you’ll most likely end up with an album that feels too gimmicky. More often than not, the latter means that the band tried to obfuscate their limited capabilities at songwriting with just some more folk stuff: basically, the equivalent of filling in the questions you left open on an exam with random answers in a desperate attempt to score some extra points.

Why am I saying all of this? In my opinion, Elvenking is usually the best in class when it comes down to folk metal, an opinion, that they have only reinforced with Reader Of The Runes - Rapture. Let me explain why.

Does anybody remember the last album, Reader Of The Runes - Divination? I liked it. However, I’m the first to admit that the first half of that album very much felt like Elvenking on autopilot: good, but not unique. The second half, though, is wonderful and feels overall stronger. In the case of Reader Of The Runes - Rapture, I feel like the album is overall better paced. Most of the songs here feel really varied and have their own recognizable accent. “Red Mist" has a beautiful softer opening mixed with some ballad vibes in the verses and some more energetic parts in-between, while “To The Nord” for example is a heavy hitter with some darker undertones.

However, there are 2 songs that I want to mention in particular, because they are to me the quintessential Elvenking songs: the title track and “Incantations”. Engaging choruses? Check. Beautiful acoustic softer parts? Yup, they are there. Gripping riffs? Of course. Stellar transitions between all the different musical elements? Most definitely. If you’d get an assignment to summarize the sound of Elvenking, just take a blank Word file, drop in a link to one of these songs, and you’re done. A 10/10 guaranteed. I liked the whole album, but these 2 were played on repeat more often than I’d like to admit in the last 2 weeks.

Production is very much in the vein of the previous album; that means it’s done very well. Drums and bass have some nice deep end to them, which nicely accentuates the darker vibes in some of the tracks. All this is accomplished without falling into the trap of having a muddled sounding production. The folk touches were also tastefully added to the mixing blender, while vocals are well pronounced in the mix as well.

The performances are top-notch. You get some great riff work, impressive drumming, and some fat and haunting-sounding bass parts. For the latter, just listen to the start of “Covenant” and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Special mention also goes to the vocals; Davide Moras did another spectacular job on this record. He adds to the variety and charisma that each song has, his vocal deliveries kept me engaged throughout the whole record, and the approaches he took for each song were spot on.

Now, I mentioned how the transitions in the songs are really strong; however, here comes some nitpicking. Some of the transitions between the songs themselves feel a bit abrupt at times. The opening title track and the second track come to mind. The second song is a hard-hitting one that gets into it right from the start; that’s alright by me, but the transition between the 2 songs feels a bit unnatural to me. And there are a few others here and there.

So, what’s the final end report for Reader Of The Runes - Rapture? Passed with distinction. Honestly, if Elvenking made a normal power metal album, they would already be a unique voice within the genre. The fact that they further enhance that with tasteful folk touches, just makes them stand out even more. I had a great time with this record and I have a feeling many others will as well.