CD Review: Sleipnir - Bloodbrothers
Reviewed by Steve Norman
When you’ve got a few reviews under your belt, you can become conscious of repeating yourself, but I can confidently say that ‘mighty’ is a definitely not a word I’ve had cause to use excessively in these hallowed pages. But I think that may change…
Albeit possibly under different guises, Paul “Darklord” Clark and Pete “Tossel” Gordon will already be well known to many entwined around Esquires and the local music scene, but here they are unleashing themselves again upon the unworthy hordes as Sleipnir, with their debut album ‘Bloodbrothers’.
To give Sleipnir some musical context - and I hope the band will forgive my inferior qualifications to attempt this - there’s undoubtedly undertones of Bathory and the melodic black metal style of, say, Xasthur; there’s epic song progressions reminiscent of Primordial; and the vocals I would call clean but highly sinister, not a million miles away from contemporary Satyricon.
Unlike some of these though, and other similarly epic / melodic / black / folk / Viking / battle / heathen / etc. metal bands, this isn’t about elitist mysticism or preaching or politics disguised by obscure mythology and folklore… it’s about 100% masculinity. It’s about ‘mighty’.
So now all The Killers fans have lost interest let’s get down to business. This is music for real men – warriors – who will appreciate epic tales of swords and occasional hammers or axes; who will understand the virility of hand-to-hand combat, and the brotherhood found in eternal war fought in the name of a Nordic deity - yes, many of you still reading will have noted the reference to Odin in the band’s name, but as I said before, don’t worry because this is not about preaching, well, except perhaps for the regular and overt demands to slay Christians!
As you’d probably expect, this is a hefty album to wield, with most of the nine tracks weighing it at between six and nine minutes long, but there’s absolutely no filler; no parsnips or sweet potato here, just a big plate of meat - as I said before, 100% masculine.
And to expand on the ‘pure meat’ analogy, purely because I think I can get some more personal enjoyment out of it, unless she’s one of those ultra-butch lesbians you generally wouldn’t expect your girlfriend to go to a restaurant and order a mighty plate of meat and nothing more. “A giant pork knuckle please, and you can stick your asparagus where the sun don’t shine.” The same goes for your mate who enjoys Franz Ferdinand – he’s not going to fancy taking on an epic plate of meat either, is he? He’d want a few carrots or some red cabbage to go with it, to keep his complicated fringe smooth and shiny.
And coming back to something vaguely relevant, you wouldn’t get a bunch of girls shrieking, “Odin, Mighty Odin, raise our horns to the War God” while they all run around shrieking a bit more and hugging each other. Try and visualise it. You can’t, can you? A group of true men though?
That’s a different story, and that story is what this album, and tracks like ‘Ancestral Blood (Brothers From The Day We Were Born)’ and ‘Warriors of Thor’, both typically drenched in often mesmerising guitars, subtle but atmospheric keyboards and warrior choruses, is all about. One listen and I challenge even the most irritating moon maiden or the owner of anything by The Ting Tings to argue with a word I’ve said!
On top of it’s mightiness – and despite my efforts to entertain - be sure that this album is intelligent, well crafted, well recorded and did I mention mighty? So if you’re a true man / ultra-butch lesbian, be sure to check out www.myspace.com/sleipniruk for audio samples and more information.