Thyrfing - Urkraft (2000)^{Release ID: 8567}

Thyrfing are one of the bands who started consistently leading the Viking Metal movement after Bathory briefly abandoned the sound. Urkraft is a style of the genre that remains quite Blackened and heavy, yet still Folky and mostly uplifting.

The band’s previous album was characterized by having a strong Power Metal influence, making it speedy and melodic. Cheesy, sure, but fantastic stuff. This album loses most of that Power Metal influence for focus on a more midtempo, folky and epic sound. It’s still heavy and cheesy, but in a slightly different way. The compositions are strong and even border on progressive at times, and have some nice layering of instrumental pieces. However, I find myself missing their more energetic stuff.

I think especially with the genre picking up more traction around this time, “Urkraft,” as solid as it is, fails to really stand out from other albums in the genre. Where their previous album had a unique blend of Power Metal melody and energy in the mix, this one is far closer to straight Viking Metal. Still very well played and composed, but less memorable and less unique.