Review by JD on November 25, 2012.

Folk Metal is something that is steadily building in Quebec Canada and many of this relatively new genre comes from this area of the Great White North. One such band making a splash everywhere is Nordheim, a band that is making people take notice even far from their native Quebec landscapes.

Reminding me sort of Amon Amarth with more pension for folk leanings, these Quebecers seem to fire out on all cylinders with a blistering attack, subtle harmonies and the addition of solid melodies to tie everything together. While the five piece hold their own, they seem to still be fighting to find their own voice rather than struggling with sounding a lot like other Folk Metal acts.

Songs like 'Beer, Metal, Trolls And Vomit' and 'Old Crazy Man' are pure Folk/Viking metal at its very core - heavy, melodically pummeling with the whole berzerker mentality added in for strength. Nordheim are classic styling in this genre, and play it more than just well... yet I was looking for some hinting of originality added in. There were a few subtle hints of originality, but mainly the music followed the basics and never wavered very often... but it still is very fun and well played.

I hope their next album expands so they can mature naturally into what I already see as their massive and inciting possibilities that they could be at the very apex of the Folk Metal heap. I think that we can all watch as Nordheim becomes very prominent as the metal world takes note and making Canadian Metal even more large and in charge on the global onslaught of Metal.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10