HAVAMAL – THE SHADOW CHAPTER (Review by Varg The Mighty)

Today’s review is of Swedish Melodic Death Metal band Havamal’s new album, out on May 21^st.

This album has a pretty average Melodic Death Metal sound, although their grandiose approach makes the songs quite epic and enjoyable. With a style perhaps similar to early In Flames combined with a heavier use of keyboards that may sort of remind of Crematory, this album has a great use of melody, much higher than the extreme side of it. Therefore, the music achieves some sort of atmospheric and deep sound especially notable on tracks like “Hel” or “The Curse Of Grendel” that even give the release hints of Symphonic Metal, a subtle mix with a good result.

The guitar composition is well synchronized with the keyboard sounds and creates some rather virtuous passages that surely produce awe, and with a backing rhythm well defined and decent vocals, songs like “Fenris” or “Empire Of The Ashen Sun” turn out to be really good.

I recommend this album to fans of Melodic Death Metal and Symphonic Metal. My rating is of 8,5/10.

VARG THE MIGHTY