Well, I do not know who exactly is to blame for inventing a hollow and meaningless term like “Viking Metal”. The Vikings simply did not play Metal. Be this as it may, the debut album “Zwischen Horizonten” by NASTRANDIR features traditional Metal with all its different facets, plus the so-called Viking elements, in this case clear vocals and chanting, some keyboards, violin, lyrics dealing with war, wolves and wandering. If this is the definition of what Viking Metal should be, then NASTRANDIR did a good job and “Zwischen Horizonten” could serve as blueprint for this genre. But – there have been other bands playing such music more or less exactly the same way, so I guess anyone who is interested in Viking Metal has heard tunes like this here countless times before. Personally I enjoyed listening to this release, because it is well done, varied song-writing and a good production. But my enjoyment is simply based on the fact that I normally do not listen to such music. Honestly, I do not think that the Viking Metal genre needs another album like this one here, because it is just a repetition. All die-hard fans of this genre should nevertheless take a listen to this cliché breathing piece of Metal. www.nastrandir-metal.de