Fimbulvet – Portale

Fimbulvet is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Stephan Gauger. Their latest release ‘Portale’ is the band’s fifth album and co-incidentally marks their twentieth year into existence. Fimbulvet’s sound is described as Pagan Black Metal, so expect catchy melodies, highly energetic songs and cleans mixed with growls. If that alone doesn’t quite paint the picture, see Fimbulvet as a band that is similar to Menhir, Die Saat or, to a lesser extent, Falkenbach.

After a calming acoustic intro, the opener and title track meets all expectations. Fast chord driven riffs excel to headbanging heights supported by very melodic leads. Despite its easily accessible chorus, the song never reaches its ultimate climax due to the monotony of the rhythm guitar section. This is reoccurring throughout the majority of the songs on ‘Portale’. Frontman and guitarist Stephan Gauger surely is a big fan of shredding riffs. Thus the early Blind Guardian influences are never far off (at least when you’re looking at the rhythm guitar sections alone).

A nice special touch is the very well balanced production. This boosts the energy within the music. As is often the case with Pagan Black Metal, there’s just something about these songs that radiates uplifting moods. Probably that’s due to the melodies being written in the major (as opposed to the minor) scale. Arguably, it’s more fun to corelate this feeling to an ancient inherited flame that’s also embodied within (Europe’s) traditional Folk music. By the way, ‘Portale’ is produced by no-one less than Marcus Stock of, among others, Empyrium and Sun Of The Sleepless fame. Despite his work in band he’s a very prolific and proficient studio engineer. The man knows his way around the knobs and has elevated Fimbulvet’s music to a high standard.

Now, I want to get back to the music. As stated earlier, the band is labelled as Pagan Black Metal, but it must be said that the Black Metal influences are definitely not on the forefront on ‘Portale’. However, to label the music as merely Pagan Metal wouldn’t fit the bill either. It’s got too many Extremely Metal influences to be just Pagan. Sure, most songs contain a beautiful but soft acoustic intro, but the overall load of the songs is centred around something heavier. There are a lot of Melodic Death Metal/Thrash Metal touches in the riffs and that’s a pro in my book. Just listen to ‘Krieg der Ratten’ to see what I’m going on about.

Overall ‘Portale’ is an album that’s well worth your time. Especially if you’re just getting into Extreme Metal and you’ve got a soft spot for Pagan overtones. The music is fast and at times quite ferocious, but never does Fimbulvet kick it into full overdrive. Therefore, existing fans of the extreme side of Metal are likely to not connect as much with ‘Portale’, since it restrains itself too much and, perhaps, just is too soft. It’s hard to name overtly evident flaws, aside from the similarities in the songwriting department. I’m likely not revisiting ‘Portale’ that often, but I urge you to see for yourself.