ALBUM REVIEW: Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land Of Legends) – Einherjer

Despite a career spanning nearly three decades, Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land of Legends) marks the first official live release of Norway’s Viking metal stalwarts EINHERJER. Recorded in 2021 as part of the gigs marking the release of their latest studio album, North Star, Norse And Dangerous is effectively a career-spanning retrospective for EINHERJER that presents a range of their material, old and new, in a suitably modern and immaculate form.

Considering the timing of the shows, it’s no surprise that the band’s latest output is decently represented on Norse And Dangerous. There’s a strain of almost-accessibility to EINHERJER’s more recent material that finds a way to enrobe angry vocal hooks with blackened tendencies a la modern SATYRICON. The set opener West Coast Groove, a pummelling ode to seafaring, is a great example of this; its restrained mid-pace and snarled vocals ensconced in an unsettling ambience feels like a Viking rendition of SODOM.

Stars off the same album leans even more heavily into the atmospherics. Its slow and domineering riffery builds like an evil Kashmir before degenerating into thundering toms and guttural barks, finally revealing a discordant shuffle of a chorus. Across Norse And Dangerous, EINHERJER’s recent songs are delivered with urgency and note perfect precision. Cuts like the windswept modern black metal of The Blood And The Iron hew closely to their studio incarnations, but are moderately revitalised by the live energy.

However, it’s the album’s older material that benefits the most from the stage setting. Revisiting EINHERJER’s earlier studio work can be a bit of an acquired taste. Though not without their charm, the band’s formative works often have dated, thin production values that sap some of the vitality of the clearly strong material. While those releases will always be seminal, Norse And Dangerous adds an exceptionally welcome modern sheen to the numbers. The chug of the guitars, the heft of the bass and the thundering weight of the drums provides a new sonic lustre to classics, whereas the quality of the performance itself ensures that the indescribable crackling of energy that only a live performance can bring shines through – Dragons Of The North’s off-beat drums and chugging riffs have never sounded better.

Even 21st century tracks like 2003’s Ironbound benefit greatly from the live retooling. It’s a simply more furious rendition, with Ironbound’s orchestration of horn-synths and percussion feeling far less twee in this incarnation. Instead, the orchestration perfectly augments the natural heaviness of the track. However, it’s the record’s closer, Far Far North, that provides one of the biggest highlights. Between the blood-curdling roars of its verse, the huge sounding chant of its chorus and a litany of beautifully harmonised guitar leads, Far Far North can rightly stake its claim as a blackened metal classic in its Norse And Dangerous guise.

Of course, it’s not just a case of good production and performance that makes Norse And Dangerous a captivating listen. By presenting old and new selects from their discography, EINHERJER recontextualise their classic material with their modern sensibilities, bridging the gaps between the band’s eras. The result is a retrospective that updates their formative years meaningfully to show the throughline between the band that formed in 1993 and 2022’s EINHERJER. Norse And Dangerous showcases EINHERJER as not only a powerful live force, but also as a vital progenitor of the Viking metal genre. In turn, it serves as both a great entry point for new fans and a real treat for those who have always been there along the way.

Rating: 7/10

Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land Of Legends) is set for release on August 5th via Napalm Records.

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