Band:	Himinbjorg
Album:	Europa
Style:	Pagan black metal
Release date:	April 2005

01. Intro
02. Entering Odin's Huge Palace
03. It was In Europe
04. The Inner Mirror
05. The Law Of The Worship
06. Yon
07. The Alienated
08. Like A Shadow
09. Daily Desillusions
10. Les Strates
11. Last Day In Alesia

Saying that I was looking forward to the new album of Himinbjorg would be a bit of an understatement: this French pagan black metal band ranks among my all-time favourites and I think their 2002 release Haunted Shores has to be one of the most overwhelming works of this very particular and increasingly appreciated black metal sub-genre. Eventually, after several delays due to God only knows what, Europa has been released more than three months after the announced date. After a few listens, I can say that Himinbjorg has not changed altogether since the last album, the excellent Golden Age, and also that Europa is not as good as I expected. Disappointing? No. Although it sure lacks the mesmerising quality of Haunted Shores, I still consider it to be one of the year's best releases.

First, please let me whine. I need to express my anger and frustration on a couple of features that spoiled my pleasure: guys, please, no more of these croaking clean vocals!! The only thing they do is ruin some otherwise great songs such as It Was In Europe. They are irksome and almost out of tune, and they sound quite unprofessional. Luckily, only a few songs have them.
Moreover, they really need to work on the English pronunciation. Ok - they're French. Their English is not that fluent - look I probably have the worst French accent you'd ever hear - but I don't think it is that hard to get rid of your accent when you're singing (e.g. in one single song you hear "at the decleen eray" instead of "at the decline era" and "everyssing zat's not Chrishian"). Also, the lyrics were written in French and then translated into English. They probably were good in French, but plainly suck in English.
I admit these are only details but the accumulation of them can ruin an otherwise excellent album.

I'm done with the nasty job. Once you get over these shortcomings, you walk into the pagan eerie land of Himinbjorg. Europa speaks of forgotten heroes and far-off places, of bloody battles and Northern snowy lands. This background settled, Himinbjorg share their approach of music with new era Enslaved, i.e. a common pagan metal basis onto which they add distinctive progressive touches. This is best represented by the numerous interludes and songs like Entering Odin's Huge Palace or Daily Desillusions. At times minstrel-like clean vocals step in and add a foreign feeling to this heretic offering, but Himinbjorg have grown bitter and angry compared to the often acoustic and extremely melodic Haunted Shores.

Oddly enough though, the best passages of Europa are the less progressive, more catchy and aggressive songs like the killer track Les Strates (a very simple song with a massive riff and a great work on the vocals) or the epic The Alienated. On the other hand, The Inner Mirror and Last Day In Alesia have this particular hypnotising structure that takes you exactly where it wants to, like a travel through time. Being able to touch you in this way is the sign of a great band. If I add that the production is top-notch and monumental, I bet you know what's left for you to do?

If you've not heard of Himinbjorg yet, you must not take the 7.5 rating into account. This is a rating given by a slightly disappointed fan who can't help but compare Europa to Himinbjorg's previous works - as if any album could beat Haunted Shores? But don't get me wrong, Europa is an excellent work, one of the best in the genre, and proves once more that the French metal scene, without being particularly well-known or praised at the international level, still hosts a bunch of great bands that only ask for a bit of your attention. People of Metal land, it's only just begun?


Highlights: It Was In Europe (if you can ignore the froggy vocals), The Inner Mirror, The Alienated and above all Les Strates - check it out on MS July compilation!

PS: The correct tracklisting is the above one. Those who elaborated the back cover must have been stoned or something, since they messed up tracks 6 to 8.