Equilibrium - Erdentempel (2014)

Equilibrium face the same challenges as most of their pagan metal peers, that is that their audience seem just as much comprised of LOTR nerds, LARPERs and big budget fantasy MMO/wargamers who have little interest in metal beyond a handful of bands whose huge and glossed productions and lyrical topics drag them in, as it does of loyal underground headbangers. That said, these Germans have done better than most at keeping the cheese above the belt, the songs ale-frothy and riff-heavy enough to sate those who are just not going to be impressed by the charging horn section synthesizers so critical to their central aesthetics...

They've never written their masterpiece, and it's unlikely they will...the closest was probably their sophomore Sagas 2008 which was convincingly charming in all its belligerent bravado, like flipping through a Game of Thrones paperback and scoring it mentally with the most absurdly overt 'what would this battle scene sound like if Hollywood were all metal, all the time' mentality. But it's fun, fun in that same way you might have enjoyed Ensiferum's output or the first Wintersun. Kinetic, technically competent pagan war metal for dorks (and I am not excepting myself, I liked it). Their other albums have more or less gone for the same fruit on the true, albeit less successfully, so with Erdentempel, I at least hoped they could get back on the horse and play at the level they had half a decade ago. Musically, I feel this is the case, since the guitar progressions here are very involved, spry and semi-complex so that your imagination won't hit a dead end the moment you begin to filter through them.

That said, the band remains heavily centered on the cavalry-charge keyboard-wind tones, which are truly the 'lead' instrument in that they will hit you first, and this right here will continue to make it or break it for those who have been on the fence for their past material. Structurally, this is a step past the last LP Rekreatur in the stickiness of individual guitar patterns, with a lot of tempo variation and melody to compensate for a few of the generic chugging patterns the Germans are still occasionally prone to. There are also, sadly a few pretty generic melodies as in "Waldschrein" of the 'triumphant' variety you'd find in midlist film & television scores or Nightwish songs, glorious and grandiose only on the condition that you've had your ears shut for the last 30 years of symphonic orchestration in media. Yet, like the first Turisas album or its own forebear Sagas, I feel that there's still enough 'fun' here, throughout the superficial alehouse bombast, that you can wrench a smile or two. Especially if you think bands like Korkiplaani or Amon Amarth are the be-all-end-all of extreme metal music, then you'll probably think this is genius...in reality, they put a lot of work into it, but it's not even remotely that clever.

I didn't like the vocals, at least the snarls of Robse (his second full-length in the roster), they seem quite suppressed by the victorious keyboards and sort of cut and paste with a lot of other growlers and snarlers who don't possess a lot of distinctiveness. But apart from that, and the fact that one out of every four series of notes are almost groan-inducing, I didn't have much of a problem with the album, because frankly I did not go into it with high expectations. They do a sort of 'party while jousting on a pony' pagan metal and they do it fairly well. LCD Wagnerian jousting music for 'Renaissance Faires' in North American backwaters. The mix is brightened to modern standards, and there's very little convincing combat grime and filth anywhere, but they do play as if they're on fire and and can't strip their suits of plate mail armor down to the lederhosen beneath quite fast enough. For fans of this niche of bands, that should prove more than enough, because let's face it, sometimes you just wanna pound down your overpriced mug of cheap festival beer while you watch all the cleavage flowing freely from the corsets passing by (or those tight leather breeches, ladies)...and this is the musical equivalent. Hey, asshole: lighten up, peace bond those replica weapons, have a turkey leg, and bring the kids at half-price.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] 

http://equilibrium-metal.net/en/

Equilibrium - Rekreatur (2010)

Any dork with his head far beyond the borders of Eberron, Mordor and the Forgotten Realms will probably understand me when I say that I spent a good 10 minutes musing over whether the creature on the cover of this record was more of 'dragonne' or 'peryton' stock, and I mention this for a reason: this is epic, charging metal that is mostly going to appeal to fans of epic fantasy, folklore, role playing games (console, computer, tabletop, or...live action ewwww). That is hardly rocking the boat in Equilibrium's case, because this German band are known for their attraction to synth-dominated anthems of battle. If you don't appreciate this variety of escapism, then this might be the sort of album you want to stay far, far away from, though it certainly has numerous other qualities.

The band knows how to make the listener feel like he's about to rush on foot or horseback down the nearest hill towards his enemies, and this is manifested through the band's galloping, melodic death metal thickly glossed in keyboard herald-horns, but they often go for what feels like a cheap, familiar glory. However, the complexity of the guitar work, the growling vocals and the never ending streams of synthesizer dress the overarching chord patterns in just enough to freshen it with a pinch of compulsion. The lyrics and titles are once again in German, and to this I tip my helm with some measure of respect, since the band's popularity is long past the point at which they'd start converting to English if they were hell bent merely on claiming the epic folk/battle metal crown from other, lesser acts. However, in ANY language, a song titled "Fahrtwind" is about as necessary as a Jar Jar Binks, even when it's not a joke...

If you enjoyed the band's last effort Sagas, you can jump right in here, because it feels rather on the level with that. If anything, tracks like "Der Ewige Sieg" show an increased devotion to the use of more progressive influence in the guitars and keys, though this is not really anything new for melodic death metal. So many of the songs exhibit the same majestic, charging atmosphere that it can be difficult to pick them out, but I really enjoyed the barbaric bombast of "Verbrannte Erde" which traveled a slower route, and the hyper melodic "Der Wassermann" which would have had me clutching my esophagus in disgust if not for being so damned flowing and catchy. Both of the longer track, "Aus Ferner Zeit" and "Kurzes Epos" both contain enough dynamic alteration within their parameters that shouldn't be too put out listening through them, if you don't mind a ton of gang choir vocals or silly goose female vocals that often follow the melodies.

Rekreatur did not have a major impact on me, and I'd say I preferred the last album Sagas to this, and perhaps even the debut. By this time, though, if you haven't already written off the band as simply hollow, dork metal fare, or if you worship the sounds of Bal-Sagoth, Turisas and Finntroll, then you probably represent the type of bloke that will appreciate this, even if just for a few frothing mugs and laughs around the war gaming table Friday night.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.equilibrium-metal.net/

Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr (2005)

The 21st century has brought us a great many artists who walk the margins of multiple styles, without ever committing fully to one or the other. Equilibrium is one such artist, and their hybrid of death metal, symphonic and Viking elements has placed them well upon the map, with an appeal to fans of peers like Ensiferium, Thyfing, Finntroll, and Turisas. Like these other bands, I can't help but feel Bal-Sagoth was an influence with their unusual, goofy keyboard epics. Upon Turis Fratyr, the keyboard is the central element. The guitars churn and chug as needed, and sound quite thick and powerful, but the orchestration of the music is what places the writing just far enough into the memory. This was a pretty big debut album, and while it's successor Sagas is mildly superior, there are a number of tracks here I enjoyed, and a few that lay forgotten.

The band likes to perform a lot of glorious, charging rhythms, and while these can be fun and create the desired effect, often the synth lines and subcurrent riffing feels just too generic for its own good. Helge Stang can grunt or snarl, fusing a medium between the two genres which have birthed this band's sound (three if you count power metal, for which an argument could be made). The guitars and synthesizers frolic through a lot of bouncy, happy rhythms that would do any Finntroll or Korpiklaani proud, though the lyrical theme is pretty much pure Norse myth-history.

The title track is a brief, ambient intro that leads into "Wingthor's Hammer", which is a little sampling of what lies in store for the next hour of listening. It's flighty and silly sounding, but also kind of cool if you just don't bite too deeply into it. The verse guitars chug along below a slew of atmosphere, as Stang alters his vocals in an almost conversational pattern. "Unter Der Eiche" starts with some nice synths, and then another pretty glorious, if unmemorable charging gallop, before biting off the melody from the Biblical hymn "We Three Kings". "Der Sturm" builds a good momentum, though its core riff is once again fueled by a very generic pattern of notes that is easily eclipsed by anything else the band swerves into at any point in the song. "Widars Hallen" has a nice flute melody which almost feels like a sea shanty, and up to this point it may have been the most memorable track on the album, perfect for taking your girlfriend to the Renaissance Faire after watching the Peter Jackson Tolkien trilogy. "Met" is one of the most identifiable tracks on the album, sounding very much like Finntroll...almost too much. Like if you told me this was a missing track from Jakten's Tid, I might believe you, aside from a slight hint in the German lyrics.

"Heimdall's Ruf" is a bombastic, atmospheric intro the further frolicking synths of "Die Prophezeiung", which is a solid track with some nice melodic death guitar lines packed in. "Nordheim" becomes fairly fun, the synthwork is again delightful and playful like kids playing Hobbits vs. Mordor or a re-enactment of Die Nibelung at the park. I do like the way the chords function below the synth at the 2:00 point. "Im Fackelschein" features about two minutes of lush, acoustic calm, before the might of "Toten Heldensagen", which is the longest track on the album, and one of the best. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stomach 9+ minutes of Equilibrium's musings, but this has a more energetic, serious tone than most of the other songs and makes for a firm showcase of the band's potential (and it's up to the level of most of the tracks on Sagas). "Wald der Freiheit" ends the original album with another lush landscape of synth, but the bonus track "Shingo Murata" is another soaring epic which recalls Bal-Sagoth and Finntroll.

It was rather inevitable that this brand of shallower, orchestrated epic metal was going to procreate as the medium has once again grown in popularity around the world, but at least we've got some bands giving it their best. Equilibrium are no geniuses, but if you can shut off your mind for an hour then you'll find enough meat here to marinate with your delusions of historic grandeur and battle. Again, Sagas is a better representation of the band, but Turis Fratyr has a share of quality moments amidst the rather middling cavalry breaks.

Highlights: Widars Hallen, Met, Toten Heldensagen

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.equilibrium-metal.de/

Equilibrium - Sagas (2008)

Turis Fratyr was a huge debut for this band, generating enough buzz to have the band counted among the upper echelon of the extreme folk metal scene, alongside Ensiferum, Finntroll, Thyrfing, etc. I thought it was a fun album, but not nearly as good as the hype it was riding. With their second release, Sagas, I sense an improvement in most areas. It's even more cheesy and bombastic, the synths are hilarious yet awesome, and the songwriting is quite good.

The glorious charge of "Prolog Auf Erden" begins the festival, almost immediately surpassed by "Wurzelbert"'s clarion call to victory. Through all the sweeping keyboards and Helge's Stang, what I love most here are the very solid guitar lines, building good riffs throughout that would probably work even without all the atmosphere smothering them. The rest of the album is fairly consistent with this song, there are a few mildly different tracks like "Verrat" with its more brazen, mid-paced grooving, driving opening verses, heavy on the guitar. "Heiderauche" is a pure atmospheric synth piece with percussion, and quite nice. Some of the album's best tracks are reserved for its closing moments, like the beautiful "Die Weide Und der Fluss" or "Mana".

In all you are getting over 70 minutes of music across the 13 tracks, so the value to quality ratio is enormous. The production here is excellent, the musicianship top notch, and the album also features some classical musician guests performing panpipes, violin, and so forth. If you're into the sweeping bombastic folk metal genre of Ensiferum, Turisas, Finntroll, Bal-Sagoth (the latter for the influence of the cheesy synth sounds) and others, Equilibrium has put together an epic here, which may at times feel silly, but don't they all? A job well done.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (ich bin der wind)

http://www.equilibrium-metal.de/