Customer Reviews

In the Sign of the Ravens

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

 

 

Without a doubt the best song on this cd is Upon Raging Waves. that is not to say in the least that the rest of it is bad, quite the contrary, its all amazing. the only band i can compare these guys to is Suidakra. Viking metal is a very underappreciated genre of music. if you dont like the vocals, at the very least learn to look past them so you can hear the beautiful music and be immersed into the time period this music is set to. check out the rest of this bands music and you still wont be dissapointed.

being one of my favorite bands, mithotyn perfectly creates a viking ambiente. the power of the aggressive vocals, paired with riffs resembling traditional scandinavian tunes set you into another time. i highly recommend this release (and the other two they released) to anyone open for a style of metal in the tradition of bathory and the old enslave. mithotyn are the true masters of viking metal. you won't be disappointed. it is a pity they are no more.

I enjoy alot of Viking Metal, and I have no idea WHY people who are writing these reviews arn't into the vocals. The vocals are what sets this band apart from the rest, so many Viking Ambient type bands have such WEAK vocals! The blackmetal style vocals of Mithotyn are incredible, and complete the picture of crushing viking music without weak *singing* or *power* vocals.

1997's In the Sign of the Raven was the debut full-length from Mithotyn. The Swedish band played a melodic and folk-influenced brand of Viking black/death metal and were one of the forerunners of the now-popular Viking metal genre. Mithotyn was also the early band of guitarist Stefan Weinerhall and drummer Karsten Larsson, both of whom went on to form Falconer.

The Falconer connection is what drew me to this album, and man was I in for a surprise. Compared to Falconer's clean and melodic power metal, Mithotyn sounds downright sinister. Some of the guitar sounds and melodies are similar, but the frenetic drumming, crushing heaviness and the raspy black metal vocals mark Mithotyn as a much more extreme (and more interesting, I have to say) band. I love the combination of folk melodies and black metal elements, and the Viking-obsessed lyrics seem smarter than the average Amon Amarth offering (not that I don't dig some Amon Amarth).

While I'd absolutely recommend Mithotyn to just about any fan of Viking metal bands, I'd caution Falconer fans to preview these songs before buying In the Sign of the Raven. It's a terrific folk-tinged black metal album, but it's probably going to be too extreme for most Falconer fans.

This cd is an amazing work. The vocals are a bit too high for my tastes, but the music is amazing. I especially like the beethoven bits of trck 6

This "Viking Metal" band has some of the best and most creative music I've heard. Traditional scandinavian melodies crossed with Monowar style metal. The occasional use of acoustic instruments is a pleasant touch, also. Too bad the "vocals" have to ruin the whole thing! The Black metal "singing" does not go well against melodic metal- especially when it's this imaginative. And it's not like it's hard to sing here- the chours back ground vocals prove that. To hear some great Swedish Viking Rock where they actually carry a tune check out Frostfodd, Ultima Thule, Dirlewanger, Hel, Enherjarna, and Midgaard Soner.