Customer Reviews

Heathenreel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If your a Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, and/or Nightwish fan, you should definitly check Elvenking out. This CD is excellent to say the very least, the songs get embedded into your head. Really, to sum this up.. Elvenking is definitly worth checking out.. I highly recommend it!! If your into Power Metal, and have not heard this awesome band out yet, what are you waiting for?

ok, i first heard about this band a few months ago, so i got one of their songs off their second album wyrd, another 5 IMO, and was totally mesmorized by it. You can trust me that you've never heard anything like this band before, and when i say its good trust me, im very picky with music, and wouldn't readily give much 5 stars, after listening to this band for the last few months they've easily climbed to my favorite band ever. The musicians are extremely talented, but more than that, they KNOW HOW TO WRITE SONGS, an element that seems to be missing in alot of bands who rely heavily on talent. This band posseses both factors. And once again trust me, im not a bandwagon fan who listens to something catchy and gives it 5 stars, buy this album along with their other album wyrd. If you like good unparalled metal, buy this cd without hesitation, though it seems its out, so buy wyrd.

Elvenking takes some of the best things from folk metal and some of the best things from power metal and combines it into an eclectic masterpiece of epic proportions. The album starts off very folky and then gets into a serious power metal song with typical folk metal themes. The occasional fiddle graces us with her delightful visits in many of the songs, giving the listener a very folky feel, but one very different from the violin used by Rhapsody to create classical sounds. The band members' Italian accents are not heard at all making it very different from bands like Hammerfall who don't really try to hide their Scandinavian accents. Midway through the album the mood changes a little bit with some intense growling but soon becomes subdues and the happy folk/power metal continues.
The only real qualm that I have with this album is that it becomes somewhat monotonous as oh so many metal albums do. However even though most of the songs sound the same, it doesn't mean that they don't sound good: really good. If you like metal, elves, or fiddles I suggest you press the buy it now button.

I don't listen to metal. I'm not talking Limp Bizkit metal, I'm talking Rhapsody, Iced Earth... I love a few metal songs, but I never thought I'd go buy an entire album. But I did when I listened to Elvenking. This band's metal is so appealing it charmed many people I know who never liked metal before.

What may drive people to listen to this music is that it sounds so natural. Each track comes together so nicely it sounds as if the 5 bands members just starting playing and the music came out on its own (but you just know they've worked really hard on this). There is also the mix of clear and deep voices, not to forget women voices at times, that is just incredibly put together. Four people actually sing in the last song, Seasonspeech (they sometimes sing one after another, sometimes together). The first minute of that song will bring tears to your eyes.

As for the other songs, they all have lives of their own. Pagan Purity is the most average song on the album, probably because it's the one most ressembling other metal bands. I'm not saying it's bad, it's very good. It's just the one with the less personality. Other tracks worth a mention are Skywards (this one is really slow until the end where it breaks down into one of the greatest song endings), Conjuring of the 14th (that successfully recreates the mood of a horor movie) and A Dreadful Stain (which, for a while, I thought was the worst song on the album. After a couple of hearings, it became one of the best).

This album is recommanded to anyone, whether you're a metal fan or not. However, I would recommand a listen first if you are not. Chances are, you'll recognize the genius behind the music. "And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing."

Elvenking is a fairly new metal band out of Italy, and as such I would expect nothing like this album. They are very unlike other Italian metal bands in that their style is Folkmetal, at least that is what Elvenking this best describes their own music, and I would be inclined to agree.

First off, few albums deserve a 5 star rating. Though I had a hard time deciding what to rate this album, I gave it 5 stars for several reasons:

First, every song on this album is worth at least 4 stars on its own. Every other one I would call great, and this is most of them.

Second, Elvenking displays a surprisingly wide range of skills in this one album. Combining folk and metal is something of an accomplishment in itself, and listening to this album makes me think 'How come I haven't heard anyone else do this before?' The tracks range from heavy guitars (The Dweller of Rhymes) to more melodic tracks (Hobs and Feathers) to tracks featuring primarily guitar and fiddle (Skywards) to purely instrumental (To Oak Woods Bestowed), and yet they all work together very well (that is to say, they all feel like they belong on the same album, which might not be expected from such different tracks).

Third, many metal bands have been known to mix deep, growling male vocals with softer female vocals for an interesting contrast (Nightwish come to mind here). While many bands do this and it sounds 'interesting', Elvenking manages to mix several different distinct vocals and it sounds amazing. White Willow has a verse sung with male vocals and growling male vocals singing the same words together, and the result is the feeling that the character being portrayed in the song is showing much more intense emotion. The most notable track in this sense, however, is the final track, Seasonspeech. This track has four different vocal parts (clean male vocals, growling male vocals, and two very different female vocals), one for each season. They sing separately at times, together at times, and some times they are all singing their own verses. The last time I heard anything like this done this well was Simon and Garfunkle's Scarborough Fair. The effect is quite astonishing. Rather than just being an interesting mix they work together and complement each other in a way that probably can't really be described in words.

Overall, this is an amazing album. If you are looking for something new and fresh in metal, this is an excellent investment.

Along with Vintersorg/Otyg this is as good as so-called 'Folk Metal' gets. Elvenkings first full lenght recording (following up their debut EP 'To Oak Woods Bestowed') is an absolute masterpiece in this genre, there are absolutely NO weak songs to be found on this disc. Some are just better still than others, that's all...

Some absolute peaks on this album are "Skywards", "White Willow", "Pagan Purity" and "The Dweller Of Rhymes", but like I said, all are good.

This disc offers 11 (12 with the bonus track "Penny Dreadful", a Skyclad cover) compositions of grand melody, heavy riffs, acoustic mastery, excellent clean & (occasional) death vocals and a wide variety of traditional folk influences all weaved together and blended into a very unique style. The lyrics are full of imaginery and above all very well written and even the artwork (especially the frontcover) that comes with this record is awesome.

Thus, five stars...

I don't know how I managed to avoid this band as long as I did, but when I finally experienced Elvenking live at the ProgPower USA IX festival in 2008 it was a real eye-opener. Maybe I was just wary of Italian power metal bands in general (call it Rhapsody fatigue), but I honestly wasn't expecting a band as innovative and downright impressive as Elvenking.

People can debate how best to classify them, but to my ears Elvenking is a power metal band that has a strong folk/pagan influence. With their violins, keyboards and almost Celtic melodies they're like the power metal equivalent of Skyclad and Mago de Oz. I've heard most of their albums now and so far their 2001 debut Heathenreel is my favorite. I love the unique vocals (vaguely reminiscent of Angra's Edu Falashci) and the way they're occasionally supplemented with death metal growls. The melodies are insanely infectious, and it's cool how the violin plays such a huge role in each song. The production job by Frederik Nordtrom and killer Travis Smith cover artwork don't hurt either! In every possible way, Heathenreel is a much needed answer to way too many "by the book" power metal albums.

Elvenking is just a fantastic metal band and Heathenreel is an amazing album. It's a terrific blend of power and folk metal, and I'd go so far as to call it a must-have album in both circles. I can't imagine any power metal fan being disappointed by this one, and fans of the new Pagan bands (Tyr, Eluveite, etc.) should enjoy this as well.

This is one of my favorite power metal/ folk metal, and just metal in general albums of all time. seriously i dont know what else to say other than that you should get this. its seriously awesome. White Willow.

I listened to this album with great passion in 2004 while I lived in France. This album is pinnacle for those that appreciate the genre; however, you will be guided into many other bands from the influence of this album. I am a Philadelphia native and I traveled all the way to Dong Open Air to see this band. Great song writing, great guitar work; thumbs up all the way!

I've known Elvenking with the album "The Winter Wake" ...
The first time I bought Elvenking was quite strange...I have a huge archieve,that I was looking for something new,and I bought Elvenking for the good looking of it's cover...

And when I listened to it,i loved it,more than I expect...

I immediately bought the albums Heatenreel and Wyrd,they are also great,but again to be honest they didn't give the feeling of the Winter Wake...

The first characteristic of Elvenking is,their music is kinda "cheery"...
Melodies are cute,and it has a different magic that makes the listener happy
And for sure,they will make your heart beat faster!

I like their pass melodies within a song,you'll see that it is their characteristic.
And they used other instruments (Flute,Violyn,Classical Guitar) well,and complete the soul of this great music...

Another Haven,Moonchariot,White Willow,The Wanderer are some of the top songs of Elvenking I like...

I recommend everyone to buy it really,if they are seeking a different perspective for the harmony of folk melodies with Power metal,since you'll see Elvenking is "original"