Style: Viking metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: A wayward son returns home to the hearth
Thoughts: So this is it, part one of the last chapter of Bathory. The "return to form" as it were. The continuation of Twilight of the Gods.
I was skeptical of this release when it was announced. The last few Bathory albums had been absolute garbage (putting it nicely), and I had no hope for this. Going back to the sound that was so completely abandoned after Twilight is not something that can be easily done. I didn't think Quothon had it in him.
So does it succeed? Well yes... but no. Yes this is a continuation of the viking metal sound that Bathory pioneered. No, it is not nearly as good as Twilight or even Hammerheart. Speaking of Hammerheart, this feels more like the continuation of that sound rather than Twilight.
The songs have a similar speed to them and the riffs all have that massive quality, but they tend to blend together more than I would like. The one thing that is a beautiful return to form is the vocals. Quothon's voice is as clear here as it was on Twilight, perhaps even more so.
If anything this album sounds like it should have come between Hammerheart and Twilight. It's got some of the variance that Twilight does, but leans more heavily into the metal portion like Hammerheart does. Not a bad combination at all.
Nordland I was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't think that there was anyway that the band could return to it's mid period albums with any level of success, and yet here we are. A solid hour of massive viking metal the way that only Bathory can make it.
Written May 9th 2024
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