ALBUM REVIEW: Reader Of The Runes – Divination – Elvenking

Ten albums into their career and Italians ELVENKING have been experiencing something of a renaissance. The folk/power metallers struck gold five years ago with eighth record Pagan Manifesto and since then have been riding a significant wave of popularity. Sure, last record Secrets Of The Magick Grimoire didn’t quite hit the heights of its predecessor, but it was no slouch either. So, we arrive at Reader Of The Runes – Divination, once more released via AFM Records and destined to be the first instalment in what is planned as a series of records centred around an ongoing story.

Reader Of The Runes – Divinaton is a well-balanced blend of all ELVENKING’s styles and strengths, making for a substantial album that keeps the listener on their toes with every note that passes. It starts in bombastic fashion, Heathen Divine’s soaring chorus and stellar guitar work from Fedrico Baston and Raffaello Indri making for a strong opening. The chorus is a selling point in the title track as well, a song that benefits significantly from a SABATON feel that mixes fist-pumping riffs with enough of the cheese that makes power metal so appealing and catchy; the same holds true for Sic Semper Tyrannis, which leans heavily on a tempo and style akin to the Swedes’ gun-blazing song Gott Mit Uns. A more classic metal style is displayed in Silverseal which, despite a twin-guitar intro that would have the lawyers from Game of Thrones reaching for their phones, is a solid mix of DRAGONFORCE and the classic tones of HELLOWEEN. Their folkier side is given a healthy showing in Eternal Eleanor, a jovial and warming jaunt which harks back to earlier ELVENKING material and Malefica Doctrine even dips its toes into more aggressive territory that resembles melodic-death, helped by the double-bass power of Marco Lanciotti.

Like Secrets Of The Magick Grimoire, Divination doesn’t meet the standard set by Pagan Maifesto, although it must be said that the space between them has been narrowed considerably. The main reason, from a musical standpoint at least, is that the closing track Reader of the Runes – Book I lumbers along badly for a large portion of its near eleven-minute length, resulting in a damp squib to finish what, up until then, had been a good album; it just never really gets going, although the throwback in lyrics to mid-album interlude Diamonds In the Night is a nice touch. The other comparably-sized elephant in the room is more about the world that this record has entered. With the power metal, symphonic metal and even folk metal scenes having their profile raised by the likes of SABATON, NIGHTWISH and HEILUNG in recent years (the latter, admittedly, on a more neo-folk level), for a band to truly make the cut the quality of their output needs to be exceptionally high if they want to even get close to the bar set. Unfortunately, Divination falls short of all three, potentially due to ELVENKING’s cocktail of all three within their sound. Consequently, the record is not the most memorable and will require a number of listens before it embeds fully in the mind; don’t be surprised if you find yourself reaching for The Art of War or Endless Forms Most Beautiful, though.

As the first chapter in what will be an ongoing saga from ELVENKING, perhaps this album will be looked upon more favourably when subsequent albums allow the story told within to unfold and a better picture is painted. For now though, Reader Of The Runes – Divination is a solid album with some great moments and more than a couple of weaknesses, with time only knowing how it will be received in later years.

Rating: 7/10

Reader Of The Runes – Divination is out now via AFM Records. 

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