Taake – Noregs Vaapen

Finally, we have the latest work from Taake. When you hear the name Hoest you can’t expect something less than perfect. From the moment that he writes a different black metal music at he age of 17 (”Manndaudsvinter” Demo) you can easily call him a music genius for the Black Metal genre and once again he writes all the music of the album. Now, Hoest with Taake presents “Noregs Vaapen” when Norwegian Black Metal has a decline.

I must admit that I’m a big fan of Hoest’s music, even if “Taake” album in 2008 wasn’t for my expectations as good as the previous albums. “Noregs Vaapen” is a classic Taake album, with the power of the three first albums. If you look at Hoest’s career with Taake, you’ll see that in every album his compositional skills get better and better. It’s not the common black metal with the usual riffing and cliche style. Hoest puts his signature in this music and creates something special. “Noregs Vaapen” is definitely a killer album that causes “eargasm” at black metal fans. Also, it includes the participation of guest performers as Nocturno Culto, Attila Csihar and Demonaz, so it has some extra positive points.

Starting listening the CD with much impatience, from the first second “Fra vadested til vaandesmed” wins the listener with the epic intro riff. The song is a total storm of guitar riffs. With the mix of Hoest’s grim vocals and the hellish blastbeats, a cold atmosphere emerges from the album. At the late fifth minute of the song a violin melody is added make “Fra vadested til vaandesmed” even more morbid and dark. I haven’t heard such an epic song since “Hordalands Doedskvad” time. Without having outreach the shock of the first song, “Orkhan”, the second song is starting.

It has also a powerful starting, perfect guitar composition and Hoest does such grim vocals as he didn’t before. One of the most great tracks of Taake definitely. “Nordbundet” was released at “Kveld” EP a few months before, giving a taste what “Noregs Vaapen” is like. Certainly Hoest released it for a good reason. We’re talking about the most solid track at Taake’s career. Heavy guitar ripping and melody that brings up the attitude of “Natestid”. The epic itself and the revival of Norwegian Black Metal.

The next track, “Du ville ville Vestland” continues the greatness of the album. The guitar riffing, arpegio and solo are quite similar to “Black’n’Roll” style . Heavy and morbid, so simple. “Myr”, that follows was a surprise for me. It’s a dark black metal song with the melody and the vocals when it starts. And then… whoa! A banjo! It’s very different from these that Taake used to play, but it’s still a catchy song.

The best song of the album, in my opinion, is the sixth, “Helvetesmakt” (Hell Force in English) and represents totally what the title says. It’s the song which the dark feeling of the album is the most characteristic. Perfect black metal riffs and with the occult background vocals the world turns so grim. The last song, although being a ten minute song, it’s not boring at all. The variety of tempo is obvious and that’s make the song interesting. It’s a classic, cult Taake song, that could be included in the first epic albums without any difficulty.

In conclusion, at the time that many Scandinavian bands “recycle” the music, of Mayhem, Darkthrone and Immortal and the same time Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon play mainstream black metal for schoolkids, Taake release an album that touches the perfection. Hoest continues to write his unique Black Metal music and keeps the flag high.”Noregs Vaapen” is equal to the first three malevolent albums. It’s a true masterpiece, for sure.