Review by JD on November 18, 2018.

From Germany… we have disk by a band made up of many guest players like Victor Smolski (Almanac, ex-Rage), Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, ex-Nevermore), David T. Chastain, Gary Holt (Slayer, Exodus), John Norum (Europe), Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper) and others which is fleshed out as a concept album based on the infamous German pirate, Klaus Störtebeker. Color me curious. 

FB 1694 is the musical offspring of one Frank Badenhop, the metallic leader into the concept fray. He has enlisted the help of titanic bassist Mirko Gätje (Headbangers Nightmare) and drummer Michael Wolpers (Running Wild, Victory, ex-Herman Frank) and then added the prementioned list of heavyweight guests.  This might be damn good, me thinks. Clocking in at over an hour, this album is a beast.  Songs like 'Victual Brothers' and 'Gottland'are stand out tracks of power metal mayhem that satisfies even the most jaded of headbangers, and yet coming across the plodding instrumental like 'Hexenkessel' and the dark yet boring 'Mortal Symphony' are some of the handful of tracks that actually do nothing but take up space. Its about a sixty forty split on the disk, where only sixty percent seems to be good- and the rest drag it down into the murk of bordom. 

In all, Stortebeker is a good album, but with all of the metal muscle that was brought into the project – it should have been epic as fuck. As it is, its like a pompous virgin- all talk but just lays there and looks good. It od not bad, but just barely.

Rating: 6.1 out of 10

Review by Aaron on January 22, 2005.

The hybridization of metal with other genres tends to offer more problems than enjoyable end results. Someone might just start a Rhumba metal band, just because, "No one's done it yet, dude!" This done without thinking that there just might be good reason as to why it's been avoided so far – there are hordes of wanky, folk metal bands that think they're so butt-reamin' unique because they have an Illyrian harp player or something, but it still comes out as twenty-sided, dice-rollin’ geekery….

Anyway, Finntroll deserve kudos with Nattfodd, for not only avoiding the fall into the genre hybridization pitfalls their less bright contemporaries didn't see, but also for taking on such an utterly bizarre choice to partner with metal, making it work and making it a damn enjoyable listen. As with past albums, Finntroll take death metal and mix it with Finnish Humpa music, which is not unlike the Polka.

Death metal and Polka? That’s either an idea born of insanity or a lot of booze. I prefer to think of it as a brilliant marriage of the two, as that is precisely what comes out in Nattfodd. Especially on tracks like, “Elityres,” “Trollhammeren” and “Ursvamp,” Finntroll pull out frenetic, razor sharp riffs that suddenly become interspersed with a freaky Polka sound. You will bop your head to this, you will love it and hate yourself at the same time. The production is significantly crisper than it was on their previous album, Jatkens Tid, and this brings out the band’s compatibility of musical styles even more. The Humpa elements are much more refined and pronounced than in Jatkens Tid as well, playing an integral role alongside the death metal elements. Before, it tended to stay at a more moderate level. This is the album that In Extremo wishes they could do.

Of course, the idea of a death metal album may chaff at the aesthetics of the true brotherhood of death metal out there, who think that the genre should have nothing even remotely resembling fun in it. But for them, I recommend listening to Nattfodd and visualizing the rampant, frenzied evisceration and feasting upon the still steaming corpses of wayward goats who happen across the bridge you live under. Nattfodd brings out the best in all of us.


Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 7
Originality: 9
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Aaron on January 22, 2005.

The hybridization of metal with other genres tends to offer more problems than enjoyable end results. Someone might just start a Rhumba metal band, just because, "No one's done it yet, dude!" This done without thinking that there just might be good reason as to why it's been avoided so far – there are hordes of wanky, folk metal bands that think they're so butt-reamin' unique because they have an Illyrian harp player or something, but it still comes out as twenty-sided, dice-rollin’ geekery….

Anyway, Finntroll deserve kudos with Nattfodd, for not only avoiding the fall into the genre hybridization pitfalls their less bright contemporaries didn't see, but also for taking on such an utterly bizarre choice to partner with metal, making it work and making it a damn enjoyable listen. As with past albums, Finntroll take death metal and mix it with Finnish Humpa music, which is not unlike the Polka.

Death metal and Polka? That’s either an idea born of insanity or a lot of booze. I prefer to think of it as a brilliant marriage of the two, as that is precisely what comes out in Nattfodd. Especially on tracks like, “Elityres,” “Trollhammeren” and “Ursvamp,” Finntroll pull out frenetic, razor sharp riffs that suddenly become interspersed with a freaky Polka sound. You will bop your head to this, you will love it and hate yourself at the same time. The production is significantly crisper than it was on their previous album, Jatkens Tid, and this brings out the band’s compatibility of musical styles even more. The Humpa elements are much more refined and pronounced than in Jatkens Tid as well, playing an integral role alongside the death metal elements. Before, it tended to stay at a more moderate level. This is the album that In Extremo wishes they could do.

Of course, the idea of a death metal album may chaff at the aesthetics of the true brotherhood of death metal out there, who think that the genre should have nothing even remotely resembling fun in it. But for them, I recommend listening to Nattfodd and visualizing the rampant, frenzied evisceration and feasting upon the still steaming corpses of wayward goats who happen across the bridge you live under. Nattfodd brings out the best in all of us.


Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 7
Originality: 9
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.2 out of 10