Review by JD on October 19, 2011.

Blackened Viking Metal is about as harsh as you can get in the realm of metal. It is this fact that makes the style both stand out and freak out those who are Extreme Metal Virgins. One of the best who scare these posers come from the Black/Viking Metal Mecca of Bergen Norway. It is called Helheim.

With brutality, straight ahead sonic aggression and this amazing knowledge of Viking Mythology stemming from a deep passion for it all, this band has combined it well into one. Mixing monstrously heavy Death, hell spawned Black and berserker- friendly Viking metal, they come at you with a sound that is so powerful and heavy, yet commands this shocking amount of melody and complexness that is not well known in some areas of the Norwegian Death/Black/Viking metal styles of things.

Despite being sung completely in Norwegian (which my handle on the language has faded in the last few years), the feel and power that is there makes it all better - the way it was recorded makes every note just jump out of the speakers right at you. So many of the songs are straight out amazing and hauntingly oppressive, I will not just pick just one song and opt to just saying tor anyone just to pick the album up and make their own decision on it.

I am going to brush up on my Norwegian and dive deeper into the lyrics of Helheim, and get a fuller feel for these mighty metallic warriors. For those of you who cannot understand any of it - it still is an album that stands up to things even if you don’t understand a word of it. Helheim is a beast of a band and that is half the battle in the race for being the very best. They are just that.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8.5
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Michael on June 7, 2021.

After a few demos, a split and a compilation, English band Garden Of Eyes has released its first EP Boomhammer. The listener gets to hear two songs that are clearly different from each other. The title track 'Boomhammer' sounds very much like Swedish HM2 sound, embellished with some cool classic metal riffs and some doomy passages, especially in the chorus. Here, besides Entombed, Dismember and the usual suspects, Black Sabbath were also taken as sources of inspiration. The song is very catchy and impresses with well thought-out melodies.

The second track 'Saw Cleaver' lets the listener travel from tranquil Sweden to a musty swamp landscape, perhaps somewhere in Florida. Here, tribute is paid to the rather more unpleasant death metal bands. Let's call Autopsy one of the influences. Jørgens "Nattskog" Kirby's voice sounds quite repulsive and sick compared to the first track, reminding me of Chris Reifert a time or two. The song mostly crashes at high speed or crawls alternatively through the speakers and leaves the listener after a good 4 minutes helpless and sinking in the swamp.

The only point of criticism is the somewhat weak production, which comes across very dull and somewhat unclear, otherwise this EP is quite recommendable from the musical point of view.

Rating: 7.8 Mixed Pickles out of 10