Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Månegarm - Vredens tid (2005)

Manegarm’s fourth full-length has an accomplished sound to it. It truly blends the folk and black/Viking metal elements together well throughout its near fifty-minute run time in a solid display of powerful music. I find the inclusion of the female vocals to be a bit hit and miss but there are certainly a couple of occasions where I must admit they do add a real depth of ethereal beauty. The requisite inclusion of the cello and violin works well, and both compliment the riffs well without the sense that they are competing unnecessarily against the more aggressive elements of the album.

Structurally the album is a bit hard to follow I find though and as a result there is more of a sense of a series of similar sounding tracks being put together on a record instead of necessarily a flowing opus being delivered. I have no issue with the changing pace and tempos as they are usually done well and see the introduction of the more melodic classical strings or rumbling bassline to immediately hold the interest as the more frenetic pace ends.

When they hit their stride like on Hemfärd the band are unstoppable. Establishing a commanding tempo and stepping this down on a few occasions to let the song draw breath works well and re-energises proceedings on the longest track on offer here. I sense that overall, the album needs a couple more tracks like this to really make it shine though, instead it just feels like the true extent of the bands promise is not being fully showcased on Vredens Tid and there is some element of just going through the motions.