It was fine to have Månegarm material in English, but after years of songs sang in the band’s native language, it felt misplaced and a little awkward. It’s also a nice bonus, to see that unlike the group’s last few efforts, they went back to all-Swedish lyrics. The gas pedal is being stuck to the floor with “Hervors Arv”, with its Thrashy foundations and relentless rolling of severed heads with a structure that goes back in time, and sounds like it came straight out of the band’s early materials, which is also the case with “Slaget vid Bråvalla” and I have to say, it’s a damn pleasure to hear how the Swedish bunch goes back in time. The new album opens up with “Sveablotet” that first and foremost greets the fans with a scruffy riff that turns into an all-out attack of speed and aggressive drum work, layered with melodies and rough chorus vocals that veteran fans know and love, and that the instrumental part in it, combined with the harsh momentum that drives itself into one’s ear straight after it, is some of the moments we all missed. And so, we land in 2019, that sees the release of Fornaldarsagor and with it, a new wind for Månegarm fans worldwide. The 4-year break since then, saw the band going through some lineup changes (mainly that Jonas, one of the founding members, have left due to personal issues) and a strong will to create once more, powerful tunes. It wasn’t always all happy an nice, though, as after Nattväsen (2009), the band took some turns and created a couple of albums that felt a bit less powerful than previous works and thus, were mostly accepted with mixed feelings both with the crowd, and with the press. One reason is the sheer fact that they’ve been around since 1995 (which positions them basically as one of the pioneering bands) and the second is that they’ve managed to on one hand keep the core of fans loyal throughout the years, by manipulating their music that on one hand sounds familiar so many times, yet changes more often than not. Månegarm have always been a key name in the Pagan/Folk Metal world.
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