Comes with new graphic design, a 20-page booklet featuring lyrics, liner notes and previously unreleased photos, and a reproduction of the original black and white 4-panel booklet.
"Following the Voice of Blood" represents a decisive turning point in Graveland's career, marking a change not only in the band's formation, but also in the style of the music played. "Following the Voice of Blood" was the first Graveland album to feature Rob Darken as the sole official band member, something that has been a constant since, save for the occasional collaboration of Capricornus, handling drum duties here and on 1998's "Immortal Pride". Another major difference, as we said, is the style of the music played: this is the album where Graveland perfected their trademark sound, definitely shifting from the extremely raw and uncompromising black metal of their beginnings to Bathory's Hammerheart-Era-influenced pagan/viking metal. Change was in the air since "Thousand Swords" for Graveland, but it's in "Following the Voice of Blood" that the evolution of their sound was ultimately completed.
"Following the Voice of Blood" is a very unique sounding record, and for many reasons so. The guitar department features the peculiar playing style developed by Rob Darken with Graveland's previous record, consisting in folkish strummed patterns, executed with a characteristic overdrive distortion, that, cohesively matched by the bass guitar and Capricornus's unmistakeable drumming patterns, gives a characteristic galloping attitude to the rhytms, and a strong medieval atmosphere to the whole record. Rob Darken's screamed vocals follow the same croaked fashion heard in "Thousand Swords", while the keyboards make another major difference, as they sound clearly inspired by epic film scores, such as the one of "Braveheart" to make and example. The keyboards play a major role in giving the album its unmistakeable atmosphere, and the orchestrations, that are featured in all of the songs and in the instrumental interludes, are the real showpieces of pieces such as the fantastic "Thurisaz", "Raise the Swords" and "And the Horn Was Sounding Far". Speaking of the tracks, they are all mid-tempo epics, largely passing the eight-minutes mark (without counting the aforementioned interludes); nonetheless, they keep the listener engaged all the way through and they never get boring, thanks to the masterful drumming of Capricornus, that often shifts the pace from his usual 6/8 reversed gallop to fast-paced blast beat sessions, usually matched by the orchestrations and the guitars, to build fantastic and epic crescendos. The songwriting peaks touched by Rob Darken in this record are indeed stellar, and although he did release more great albums later in his career, unfortunately he wasn't able to match the quality of this record again. "Following the Voice of Blood" is simply Graveland's magnum opus, a unique, epic and evocative pagan metal record that has really few rivals out there. Absolutely recommended.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
