• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Forefather's Last of the Line isn't what I was expecting it to be. Based on the admittedly limited amount of their stuff I've heard, I was expecting typical blackened Viking/Pagan Metal and while that can be found on Last of the Line, it hardly tells the whole story. The album is much more riff-oriented than your typical Black/Viking album and there are plenty of clean vocals to go along with the raspy singing. The guitars have a fantastic, buzzy sound and tremolo picking is rare, though "Spears of Faith" gets close. I can best describe Last of the Line as a cross between the more epic stuff from Bathory and Tyr. Songs like "Cometh the King" and "Wolves of Prayer" come at you like an angry mounted horde thundering across the battlefield while slow, epic tracks like "Up High" and "The Downfallen" are anthems for around the fires after the battle when you are toasting the fallen. The album bogs down a bit in spots, notably the repetitive "Wyrda Gesceaft" and the dull closing instrumental "Into the Rising Sun," but these are minor. Overall, Last of the Line kicks ass.