Graveland - Thousand Swords (1995)^{Release ID: 8053}

Thousand Swords contains some nice melodies and atmosphere, but it's let down by a weak production and a lack of variety.

I only recently had my first experience with Graveland. I spent a couple of weeks listening to 1995's Carpathian Wolves and while it didn't set my world alight, I found it to be mildly entertaining. It certainly showed enough promise to get me excited to hear more of what this entity has to offer and there's a heck of a lot to choose from. Considering Thousand Swords seems to be the album of choice among Graveland fans, I guess I assumed that it would be a decent place to venture next. I also assumed that I'd probably get into this one right from the get-go rather than having to endure multiple listens before finding reward as I did on Carpathian Wolves. That didn't turn out to be the case at all. The production is very weak for starters. It's not that it's particularly rubbish or lacking clarity, it just doesn't contain much power at all, leaving the instruments a bit lifeless. Add to this the fact that there is nothing remotely technical or even tight about what's being played here, and first impressions are not very good at all.

But once again, this is one of those albums that slowly sinks its claws into you. Which each successive spin, I've found I enjoy it a bit more, but I've exhausted that technique as far as it will go now. The drumming reminds me of early Primordial, in that it has a very ancient, kind of medieval feel to it. It's an odd sort of gallop, but one that really works for this style of Paganistic music. It's damn messy though with some extremely distracting mistakes jumping out regularly. The riffs are particularly weak in presence but are somehow quite memorable and effective. This means about the third time you listen to the album, it all starts to become rather familiar and dare I say comfortable. There's a lot of melody to be found within the majority of tracks, but the album never approaches anything remotely bubbly or upbeat, more epic and grand). Rob's vocals are of the raspy, grim black metal variety. They're decent enough, but it must be said that they lack variety or venom and are just kind of...there.

In the end I think Thousand Swords has grown on me to the point where I can enjoy it, but I still find it hard to understand why so many hold it in such high esteem. Some reviews (check out some on Encyclopedia Metallum) seem to suggest that this is the finest piece of work in the history of music which is baffling to me. There are many great black metal albums out there that have a similar grand, warlike feel to them whilst containing a much bigger production, far superior talent and a heck of a lot more variety. As it is, I feel very similarly about Thousand Swords as I did for Carpathian Wolves. It's a decent listen with some nice moments and atmosphere, but in the end it's just nothing amazing. Highlight tracks for me are Blood of Christians on My Sword, Thousand Swords, The Dark Battlefield and Born For War.