Info
- Band(s): Utlagr
- Label(s): Sepulchral Productions
- Release Format(s): CD
- Release Year: 2007
- Review Date: April 9, 2008
- Author(s): Dave Waite
Managing to pour many different aspects of Black Metal into one pristine sitting, the Canadian quintet Utlagr (meaning ‘Outlaw’ in Norse) have conjured an epic and momentous journey here with new album ‘1066 – Blood And Iron In Hastings’. Reminding all at once of Dawn’s ‘Slaughtersun’, mid-era Enslaved and even Abigor’s first couple of releases Utlagr certainly don’t win any points for originality, instead focusing their attack on writing bludgeoning-yet-memorable odes to their ancestral heritage and battles of an age ago.
Mostly fast in pace and crisp in its delivery Utlagr paint vivid images of the legendary 1066 battle between the Normans and the English, with the guitars slicing sword-like through the speakers and the drums raining down the final deadly hammer blows. Crammed with many highlight moments from the epic ‘Terre De L’ouest’ to the raging ‘I’m The Sinner’ Utlagr craft a complex soundscape where you can be washed over with glimmering dark melody one minute, and killed by bouts of primordial aggression the next. Although they do tend over-emphasise the more melodious aspects as the album draws to its close, it’s the more abrasive elements that give this disc its appeal, varying what would otherwise be far too watered down to make any real impact in this genre.
Thankfully the amount of great moments on ‘1066…’ far outweigh the average but some work needs to be done to get their music up to the as yet unmatched epic standards of the aforementioned Dawn or Enslaved. Maybe not essential listening but it can’t be denied that this is a damn fine effort all the same.
