Year: 2020
Total Time: 48:51
Label: Self-Financed
You cannot say that I am not treating you well! Let’s go a trip to Mexico today, to meet PAGAN, with their new album, “Odin With Us!”. Formed as PAGAN LEGACY (without knowing when), they changed their name to PAGAN in 2015 and remain so to this day. In 2012, as PAGAN LEGACY, they released “Völuspá”, which unfortunately I haven’t found anywhere to listen to and so we have no point of comparison and evolution of the band. It doesn’t matter though, let’s dive into it…
The album starts as epic as possible, with an intro that, when you listen to it, you think you are in the medieval era and you are waiting for King Arthur to burst out from somewhere and get into battle. However, despite this intro that puts us directly in the mood, here we have an album that focuses on the Vikings and their own battles. Music-wise, we have all the ingredients. Melodies in the vein of old AMON AMARTH in some parts of the album and of MOONSORROW in others. A combination that just can’t fail. I cannot say a lot about the drums, we have slow and epic parts, we have fast one also, well-done and well-played. Guitars also well-played with phrases that play along with the drums in the slow and fast parts I mentioned before, although a bit moody sound-wise. However, the phrases and what they play are not lost because of that. The main vocals (I say main because they have two vocalists), are the classic vocals of the genre, the ones that go into brutal forms. The backing ones are more Black Metal in style, so we have a mix that makes the whole issue more interesting with their alternations. On top of that, they also have an accordion in some places, if I could correctly distinguish the sound of this instrument. Another plus, is that when it has a solo in a song, I can honestly say, that it is one of the most melodic solos I’ve ever heard. Another thing that made a good impression on me is that while we have a Viking Metal album, at times they flirt a bit with Thrash Metal riffing and that gives an extra point of interest to the whole record.
Closing, I will say the following. Once again we see bands that are unfortunately unknown to the general public and have absolutely nothing to envy from the big and mainstream bands of the genre. I will not name, I think you all understand what I mean. Give them a listen and you can thank me later.
Rating: 7/10
Editor: Nick Samios
Related Link: PAGAN – Facebook Page
