Artist: Ancestors Blood / Heimdalls Wacht
Country: Finland / Germany
Label: Heidens Hart Records
Formats: Split LP / Split CD
Year: 2023
On the verge of the end of winter and the beginning of spring this year, Heidens Hart Records brought us this split LP between Finnish Ancestors Blood and German/Dutch Heimdalls Wacht. A musical clash that is more than a good fit, but apart from that musical value, above all a release that marks the end of two decades of existence of Ancestors Blood…
After 20 years, the Finns have decided to bury their musical creation in 2022. Those twenty years saw the band assert itself as one of the best epic Finnish Black Metal bands, combining that quintessential Finnish melancholic soul feeling with a Pagan slant and a sense of melody that skims against perfection. It is in that tradition that the band presents their three songs on this split LP: epic and pagan Black Metal in its purest 90’s form. While listening to these songs, it is impossible not to softly dream away to those bygone late 90s, those years when (melodic) Black Metal experienced its entry and breakthrough – and was often very wrongly dismissed as being of lesser value compared to the Norwegian key bands that were deemed superior. The sense of epic is lined by truly beautifully interwoven keyboard melodies that are in turn enhanced by impressive lead guitar work. The crunchy vocals and the somewhat soft and even warm production complete the work and create that wonderfully authentic experience, which, ironically, bears a strong resemblance to the Norwegian originators of Pagan Black Metal. Ancestors Blood can certainly count their contribution to this LP among the best that the band has produced in their career, at least it is clear that with the passing of Ancestors Blood, a precious band has gone cold.
Heimdalls Wacht, on the other side of this LP, sounds a lot rawer and more straightforward after the engaging and mesmerising Ancestors Blood on side A, but it’s plainly obvious that these bands make a fine combination. While the sound does differ considerably, the premise is surprisingly similar: both bands strive for a sense of melancholy and exude a certain yearning for a distant past. Despite the somewhat cruder and more guitar-driven sound, the beautiful and catchy melodies shine through: a testament to a highly developed sense of songwriting. It is that same melancholic Pagan spirit that also makes Heimdalls Wacht who they are, but not without carrying their German heritage with pride. The band’s sound, which on its first albums of the mid-00’s was characterised by the pretty typical German sound (which in those years was so often brought out into the world via Christhunt Productions), has evolved over the past two decades into nothing less than an impressive amalgam of raw(er) Black Metal and a deep sense of melodic Pagan epicism. In this, these two magnificent songs are no exception.
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