Style: Viking metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: An old warrior has come to rest at the tables of Valhalla, this is their final meal... the final voyage... the end
Thoughts: This is it. The final Bathory album. The last album that would ever be recorded under this bands legendary banner. The final voyage of Quorthon before his untimely passing a year later.
As much as I would like to say that this is the exact same as Nordland I it is not. I actually highly prefer this album to the first entry in the Nordland saga. The songs are livelier, they have a sense of fun to them that the first entry did not have. Nordland I seemed to be Quothon getting his Viking metal groove back, Nordland II is him in full stride.
Listen to Sea Wolf and its incredibly cheesy intro and tell me that's not someone having fun with their music. The whole song sways like a sea shanty and it feels like some vikings getting drunk at sea before a big raid the next day. Great stuff, especially towards the end with the choirs and the pipe organ... phenomenal song writing. It rivals the classic Bathory sound.
The album is full of small touches that Nordland I was missing. A tasteful keyboard accent to a massive riff. A choir to drive a song from having good vocals to having a goosebump enduing climax. To my ears its objectively better than the first album.
This album is such a bitter sweet end to Bathory. On one end you have the proper continuation of the Viking sound of yore. On the other I wish that I could have seen what would have come next for the band. We will never know. This tale has concluded. Rest in Power Quorthon you are missed.
Written May 9th 2024
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