Kings Among Sheep

Apparently I am to be pardoned for my crimes against the crown. I would have responded sooner but I was preoccupied LAUGHING AT YOUR FOUR WINDS! You think to govern me?! Some young whelp had better rethink his strategy before I feed his muffin topped women to the gaping maw of Shai Hulud.

Some milk drinkers think themselves King, others like myself have donned the title of Conqueror by winning it through glorious combat. Others have earned their place doing thus.

Herein rules such a king.

King of Asgard.

And this king is to bless us once again with an acoustic bludgeoning with the upcoming release of Karg.

Prepare to drop to your knees and beg to be purified.

This mighty horde of Einherjar charged into the world of metal with their debut Fi'mbulvintr in August of 2010. Founding member Karl Beckman had shred and pillaged his way into our ice-covered hearts with the skin-smith Karsten Larsson, building on the mighty foundation they once laid together in the legendary group Mithotyn.

If you know your Viking-influenced metal, you will have raised a frothy horn to the heavens on hearing the name of Mithotyn. If you haven't, feel free to throw yourselves upon the thorny altar of guilt-ridden bone sorrow. Of despair.  (See making metal song titles)

Though laden with Mithotyn-ic sound, Karl adds a more ferocious approach, like covering a mighty steed with layers and layers of innards-covered blades. Fi'mbulvintr and the their 2012 release ...To North are some of my favorite releases of this decade. The guitars are as sharp and clean as a bearded ax with folk influenced melodies as well as some of my favorite and creative chord progressions to date. The melodies Falconer took from their Mithotyn days are good, but its warrior spirit and ferocity of are held firmly in the gauntlet of King of Asgard.

Some have compared them to Amon Amarth, but these are fools, useful only as meat shields for the volley of arrows and lances. Lyrical themes have similarities, but this is Karl Beckman, and few can match his prowess with the axe. I daresay Karl Beckman is to Viking metal/folk metal as Tony Iommi is to doom metal. 

King of Asgard's previous albums have hit clean and hard with the ease of a hot sword carving through snow, but from what I've heard of their next album, we won't be surviving. They have beefed up their sound and the guitars are as thick as the shields found on the Gokstad ship. If Fi'mbulvintr and ...To North were axe strikes, Karg is going to be a shield bash.

May Crom strike you dead if you fail to heed His metal servants. There are many claims to the throne, but only one can claim the seat of the Allfather himself.