Just when you thought it was safe to stick two fingers up to the year that was 2014 and tell it to do one the Bergen Blacksters that are Taake unleash their sixth studio album and remind you that it’s not quite over yet. It’s been three years since last album Noregs Vaapen but Hoest and his merry men have not exactly been quiet in the interim hitting various places like a virulent plague and reminding us just how potent an act they are live. There has been little in the way of controversy that has reached my ears and that is good as it allows the group to flourish at what they are best at, playing damn good Norske Svart Metal. Somewhere amidst the talk of infamy it can be all too easy to forget what excellent musicians this lot are and just how damn good their music is and make no mistake ‘Stridens Hus’ will make all this very clear when you give it a spin.
I have to admit at first I was thrown a bit and it took a few spins to get used to it. First point is the production by Bjornar Nilsen of Vulture Industries, it is for want of a better word “sharp.” Any sharper you would probably cut yourself on it and this does take a bit of getting used to. It does however all make sense and suits it well once you get over the first initial listens though and personally once I did, I could not stop playing this. Hoest tackles some of the tracks himself and there’s some interesting credits on some of the others. Not quite sure who Mr Strangeland is but I am intrigued, Infernus should need no introduction and V’Gandr of Helheim is here again to get into the action.
It all starts with a huge shrill weaving guitar cadence on ‘Gamle Norig’ which has attention fully before everything else piles in. Melody wise this is full bodied as it insistently gets in the head and when the ravening rasps of the singer join in you should be head banging away. There’s an air of bravado about it, a ballsy jubilant swagger amidst the snarls and victory is very much in the air as some loud vocal clamours theatrically shout away. It’s pretty much a glorious and rousing mid-paced thumper of a number but has some other surprises such as some gleaming guitar parts jumping out and a furrowing surge. All combine to make you remember why you love this sort of music so much; well it did for me anyway. As it gallops away there is some space for some beefy death grunts but they don’t appear, guess that would have been a bit too obvious. There is no pause either as it fluidly moves into second number ‘Orm’ with guitar work progressively and dextrously weaving away in one fluid motion, pretty much spellbinding in approach. There are parts here that wouldn’t be out of place on a recent Enslaved album, it’s not quite psychedelic but it comes close and throws in a big guitar solo that again really leaps out (damn if only they had used a banjo but again that trick has already been done). There are some definite prog flourishes and then a chanting choral part comes in, there’s lots happening here and I am more than happy to lose myself within its layers.
Time for things to get fast and ‘Det Fins en Prins’ comes in on the attack, fists flailing but also has some maudlin backing choral parts amidst the huge drum flurries and relentless strafing from the guitars. Injecting a rugged bouncy part this one’s going to be a great bruiser live. It’s not a one dimensional track at all though as the tempo shifts a lot over its eight minute running time and again as it instrumentally jams away so perfectly, it’s a number needing a trail of breadcrumbs to find your way out. ‘Stank’ needs no translating and swarms in like angry bees with everything flailing away as fast as possible. The urgency is a giddy one but as bass makes presence felt the melody seeps through and there’s a Norse folk song lurking within the raging confines here and as for the guitar part that sounds like its escaped from a 70’s surf song?! Well your heads as likely to be spinning as banging by now. Hopefully you should also be used to the fact that there really is no down time between tracks and this works as one continuous piece of music as though the band are leaving you absolutely nothing in the way of time to draw a breath unless you manage to catch a quick one within the songs themselves. ‘En sang til sand om ildebrann’ really gets its instrumental groove on and musically this one man composition is played so naturally it’s a delight to listen to. Vocals pile back in for the rugged Kongsgaard bestaar and suddenly some acoustic fretwork and brief caw of crows seeps in giving you one of those quick pauses before everything steams back in literally taking your head off. Then they suddenly go what I can only describe as all Cardiacs, yep this really is some progressive shit going down here! It’s left to last track ‘Vinger’ to gallop away and not only draw the album to conclusion but also provide a fitting epitaph which states you are going to be hard pushed to hear much better than this released before the end of the year. Marvellous stuff and that’s my already submitted albums of the year list well and truly fucked!
(9/10 Pete Woods)
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