Catching Up With 2016 : Vindland's "Hanter Savet"

This band from France is not Alcest as the vocals have a mean snarl to them and the guitars are more aggressive than I thought they might be going into this when the album opens with ample balls behind the wheel.There are more melodic passages of acoustic guitar sprinkled in to give a greater sense of dynamics and keep this from being Immortal.They pace picks up quite a bit by the second song and there is more of the kind of playful frolicking to the guitar harmonies. I can deal with it for this song, but if it remains a constant then these guys might just be too happy for me. They blast into "Serr-noz" and the double bass stays in a steady stream. The guitar sounds like Iron Maiden riffs that have been speed up so they can be screamed over. The break down that was supposed to be more folk, sounded like carnival music to me.

Things are switched up at the onset of "Pendenn Koll" by going into clean guitar. They can't not speed up into the kind of power thrash that seems to typify their sound. The melody running through things is more elegant but it is also cluttered up by layers of various wanking. This song is more dynamic and easier to get into than the previous song. The song that follows has more of a galloping chug that feel much more thrash to me. Riff wise this might be one of their strongest songs. Eventually the songs begin to blur into  series of gallops and have a similar feel so I can no longer begin to distinguish them from one another. The are still well played and this album was well recorded so it is quality if not very original. "Skor Neg Du" offers a little more melody amid the hammer of the riffs. There is more authority in the mid paced chug.

Then comes the 11 minute epic that I guess every metal album has to have these days. Aside from the ambiance at the beginning this song really sticks to the same sonic formual most of this album has been fixated upon. At the seven minute mark I am not hearing a clear cut path that makes four more minutes make sense.The last song also feels like an extension of the epic song

. I'll give this one a 7.5 it was well done , but mood wise I need something darker that doesn't feel like thrashed out power metal. 5.7