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Review: Hordak - The Last European Wolves
Hordak
www.paganhordak.net
The Last European Wolves

Label: Griffin Music
Year released: 2006
Duration: 47:33
Tracks: 10
Genre: Pagan Metal

Rating:
4.5/5


Review online: March 21, 2008
Reviewed by: Michel Renaud
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.88/5 (77.5%) (8 Votes)
Review

I've been spinning this album for a couple of weeks, and it keeps getting better.  On the very first listen, I wasn't all that impressed, but it only took a couple more listens to get into it.  Hailing from Spain, Hordak is a Pagan Metal band with a healthy dose of Black Metal elements and a few touches of Folk as well.  The vocals are mostly discreet BM-style rasps that take second place behind the instruments, very often sounding like a low, harsh whisper.  The beauty of this album is how upbeat yet dark the music is.  It's not really symphonic in nature, but it nevertheless has that "grandiose" feeling popping up more often than not.  The guitars are a plain joy to listen to, especially the Pagan/Folk-ish passages which sound a little medieval at times, and of course there's a bit of more Scandinavian-style Black Metal-ish sounds found here, bringing in a rawer, darker sound.  The pace varies a little, mostly mid to fast.  I found some of the faster parts sounded almost half-baked compared to the slower, more refined and intricate mid-paced passages.  Some flutes can be heard here and there, and I'd say if there's something I still can't get used to after 30 or so listens, it's when those kick in.  They sound higher than the rest of the album, and that just breaks the mood for me.  But there's very little of that, so that really doesn't weigh much in what is otherwise an almost perfect album.

The Last European Wolves manages to sound calm and epic yet packs in enough punch to rock your socks off, a good combination.  I don't know if the previous album, War Has Just Begun is as good as this, but this one here sets the bar high for the next one.

More about Hordak...
Review: Under the Sign of the Wilderness (reviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
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