Whilst Darkthrone may be more known for being one of the originators of Norwegian black metal, their career has been littered with great examples of going beyond those boundaries. Indeed, their latest release Pre-Historic Metal is more NWOBHM than the black metal they were known for.
It seems quite obvious then, that Avrak, featuring Ted Skjellum, who is one half of the aforementioned Darkthrone, would explore a more classic metal approach on their self-titled debut album and from the off with opener ‘Forever Mountain’, we are immediately in that sweet spot of 80’s heavy metal when NWOBHM had just died down and metal was becoming less punk and more grand and dramatic again. Tracks such as ‘Unborn’ channel an epic quality found within Dio’s solo work. Listen to ‘Long May The Lums Reek’ as it ups the ante with its progressive qualities and synths shining through as it drops from doom laden riffs to an acoustic lead out. There’s less reinventing the wheel than giving it a remarkably shiny new coat.
Elsewhere, we have ‘Cloaks Of Power’ with some lovely melody guitar work, the machine gun riff of ‘The Lonely Shadow’, and ‘The Rift’ which finishes the album in suitable epic mode (albeit the rather odd ‘Hav’ which acts as a kind of atmospheric epilogue).
Albums like this can often bear the hallmarks of a vanity project but it is obvious here that Avrak take their music seriously and really do love their metal. This makes it a great album for those yearning something a bit more old school amongst the countless extreme genres that exist today. Sometime simplicity and a keen respect for the past is all you need.
