Taake
Noregs Vaapen
Dark
Essence / Karisma Records
2011
The
fifth full length album from Norway's Taake might actually be their
best. Hoest has crafted an album that embodies all the things
that true Norwegian Black Metal represents and has even thrown a few
curveballs our way. The album opens with what for me is probably
the best riff that Hoest ever wrote. A cold Norwegian melody
flows effortlessly out of the speakers as Fra Vadested Til Vaandesmed
gets underway. The riffs change yet the epic melodies never
cease. Nocturno Culto spews foul bile from his tortured throat on
the track. Freezing Nordic melodies continue to stream with
blizzard-like fury as Orkan begins. The song continues through
the normal framework of a traditional Taake composition. That is
until the Nordic melodies rise again. A ropey bass guitar adds
bottom end to the midtempo trudge of Nordbundet. Slightly strange
folk hints cast pale shadows of the more black n roll oriented second
half of the song. Around the 1:30 mark the song becomes groove
heavy. However this is swept away as the intensity and speed of
the track increases towards the song's final moments. Du Ville
Ville Vestland begins with a riff that actually brings to mind Rotting
Christ's Thy Mighty Contract. Then it cast aside in favor of
groovier passages as well as a relentless stream of TNBM riffage.
Some doom metal and goth instrumentation even surface
for brief periods, adding an interesting flavor to the material.
And then things get truly bizarre on Myr as pure Norwegian forest
metal is counter balanced by banjo at the 3:21 mark. An
authoritarian stomp greets you on Helvetesmakt. A raw and dirty
black metal burst of speed and groove-laden crawl eat away at each
other's corpses throughout the song. As weird as that sounds on
paper, in the context of the song it somehow works. Noregs Vaapen
is a complete success for Taake and for me represents the best album so
far from this beast of black metal. Noregs Vaapen finds Hoest as
confident and experimental as ever while remaining firmly rooted on the
foundation of True Norwegian Black Metal.