Review by Brexaul on January 2, 2021.

I mostly knew about Orion’s Reign (what a nice name) as a cartoon band, since after their very worthy debut Nuclear Winter, they went down a very weird path of seeking a fast way to fame by utilizing collaborations with YouTubers doing silly covers rather than actually writing any music, so I was mostly indifferent about their progress and their eventual transformation to a full-fledged Christmas-song cover troupe.

Enter Scores of War. Taking a big bite out of the symphonic metal pie of Rhapsody and the likes, this album is very well crafted, with overall great songs, amazing musicianship and some truly memorable moments. Not every album needs to invent the wheel or be revolutionary so the successful formula of Rhapsody (or Gloryhammer if you prefer a more recent example) works great here, with the keyboards doing all the heavy lifting and the guitars waiting patiently for the solo sections to go bananas. The vocals are a bit too over the top but very well executed, hitting some impossible notes. I’d prefer a more “controlled” performance that could give some more depth to the songs and showcase the singer’s full capabilities better, but the whole album is built this way, so it works within context. We also have the mandatory guest appearances with Mark Boals giving an excellent performance on 'Last Stand', Tim “Ripper” Owens totally killing it on 'Together We March' and Minniva Børresen shining on 'Nostos', adding to the overall experience.

The album is very well mixed and the sound is polished and crisp, as this specific genre requires. The rhythm section is solid, although I’d like to hear a bit more bass in the mix, but again, it’s symphonic metal so you can’t expect any Steve Di Giorgios in there. My only true issue with the album is that the lack of guitar riffing becomes painfully obvious after a couple of listens since for the most part the guitars are shouting “put me in coach” until the solo section comes. It doesn’t take too much from the overall experience, but the album could be significantly heavier (read: better) if the guitars had enjoyed the attention of the keyboards.

Scores of War is professional, where Nuclear Winter was demo-ish and the progress is undeniable. With some small tweaks here and there, Orion’s Reign could well be the next big name in the symphonic metal scene, let’s hope we don’t get the full “whatever anime is hot right now” metal versions before they come up with their next album.

Standout tracks: 'Together We March', 'The Gravewalker', 'Last Stand'

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Felix on May 14, 2024.

An American and a Swedish band meet under a German title. Welcome to Naturmystik, a split where Häxanu and Greve join forces. They have recorded more than 44 minutes of music, so there is nothing wrong in terms of quantity. Häxanu have got the first four slots and I think they deserve to kick off this split, because their excellent debut from the year 2020 has shown that they can forge ingenious black metal.

Sadly, the opener 'Mercy' reminds us of the bitter fact that an outstanding first album can become a problem. Even in view of the less fascinating Totenpass full-length, my expectations were very high and 'Mercy' cannot fulfil them. Stylistically, it follows the route of the debut’s material, but it sounds like a leftover of the debut. The song suffers a bit from little intensity and anyone who doesn't show full commitment in the social Darwinist world of black metal is quickly eaten up. Even the comparatively mild, 'Untitled' intermezzo, adds a comparable degree of value to the split – and it doesn’t add so much, to be honest. But Häxanu prevent a medium-sized disaster with 'Saintly Surgery', a brilliant, dense and stormy piece. 'The Winged Chalice' also celebrates some haunting melodies and especially during the fast parts at the song’s end, I get this exciting “Snare Of All Salvation” feeling again. Conclusion: Häxanu’s contribution does not show a band at the zenith of its creativity, but at least it proves that the duo can still achieve outstanding results, namely 'Saintly Surgery'. Finally, the well-defined production is better than that of their partners in crime, because Greve’s material sounds slightly blurred and less focused (but not bad as well).

And so I am landed in Sweden, ready for the four tracks of its representatives. Greve are a blank page for me, I have heard some excerpts of their music so far, but I never listened really intensively to their art. Now I hear a band that loves high velocity and typical genre melodies, but the single components do not always go hand in hand. Thus, the songs lack coherence to a certain extent. 'Gudaföraktets Ton', for example, is not bad, but it gives me the feeling that the band did not make the best out of the song. Despite its different parts, it expresses uniformity. There is no real arc of tension, and this degrades the song to a solid, but not great number. At least it is cold and fast, and there we get “true” Nordic blackness, something that almost never totally disappoints. Nevertheless, the material of Greve is neither infectious nor does it boast with a long-lasting effect. It is probably too harsh to say that they want, but they can’t. The usual components, for example very raw vocals with reverb on it, restlessly hammering drums and (halfway) atmospheric keyboard carpets do not lead to thrilling results and so the ambient outro brings a rather imperfect album half to the end. From my point it’s 7.5 for Häxanu, 5.7 for Greve and 6.6 for the entire split.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10