Band:	Black Messiah
Album:	Of Myths And Legend
Style:	Pagan folk metal
Release date:	November 17, 2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. In Remembrance
02. Of Myths And Legends
03. Irminsul
04. Father Of War
05. Sauflied
06. Howl Of The Wolves
07. Erik, Der Rote
08. Lokis Tanz
09. Die Sühne Des Feuerbringers
10. Moskau [Dschinghis Khan cover] [bonus]
11. The Bestial Hunt Of The Fenrizwolf

Even if the band is born in 1992, it's obvious that it was extremely hard for Black Messiah to produce a lot of music and albums. With a lot of line-up turnover the band only found the way to release its first album, "Oath Of Warriors", in 2005. But it seems that it is better for them now, and after a deal with the big AFM records, Black Messiah is already back this year with a new album, "Of Myths And Legend". If you like Viking Metal, Pagan music or Folk, don't miss this delicious release.

"Of Myths And Legend" is a good album, especially if you like Folk and Pagan music. If at the beginning, Black Messiah was a band of pure old school Black Metal, the influences of Zagan (the leader and main composer of the band) finally took the direction of something a bit more melodic and easy of access. The band plays now a pure Pagan Metal with of course some Black Metal vocals but above everything else catchy and festive melodies. And it works, it's really cool to listen to "Of Myths And Legend", really all the songs have some great melodies and epic ambiances that the fans of the style will enjoy a lot. Also, Black Messiah is not so serious and they even found the way to write a song like "Saulfield", which sounds like a pure Irish "drinking" folk song (full of violins and "sing along" choruses) or a cover of the incredibly cheesy Eurovision German hit, "Moskau" which is just fantastic here. That's simple, despite the fact that "Of Myths And Legend" is an album of dark Metal first, there are only some good vibes on this release and the people who like catchy Folk music will be happy to listen to this album.

Too bad that the production isn't so good. The songs are weak in general and it's obvious that it comes from a problem of mixing. Same with the keyboards which can sound a bit "cheap" sometime but really this is the only problems of the album, the rest is well done, with a lot of good ideas and good spirit. Plus the fact that the band chose to do a cover of a song like "Moskau" is the proof that the band members are full of cool sense of humor and not so serious. I like that, especially in a Folk/Pagan Metal release, a style which must be federator and festive in my opinion.

Let's wish a lot of luck to this band which clearly deserves to find success. Their nice mix of Pagan Black Metal and Folk is really nice and I'm sure that all the ones who like this kind of music will love "Of Myths And Legend". It's not the best album of the decade, the ones who like "true" dark Metal will be probably disappointed but really it's good to listen to it. Highly recommended if you like Viking metal, Pagan stuff or Folk and love to headbang like a crazy "idiot" when you listen to music.