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Graveland has been on the forefront of the pagan/viking metal scene for some time now. Originally starting off as a typical black metal band with some Celtic themes, we would begin to see the band explore a more pagan-driven sound on their second album "Thousand Swords". While I would still call it a black metal album, I can't deny that the album did lay in some foundation for the viking stuff that would only be expanded upon in future albums. While it does feel more like a limbo album, there are still plenty of great moments that I think are worth discussing.
Starting off with the instruments, the album starts off with an ambient intro with some blaring guitar riffs and ritualistic drumming. It's okay, but the real beauty of the instruments are shown in the next track "Blood of Christians on My Sword". The guitar has a similar raw sound from the previous album, but it's noticeably more polished and complex with its riffs when compared to the previous album's more minimalistic riffs. The drumming's also very primitive and raw, and its booming sound gives it an atmosphere of an impending doom. Even the bass sounds deep and lays in a thick foundation for the track. Overall, the sound of this track is dark, but also very pagan and viking-like in nature, which is executed well here. Each track has a specific sound that makes it unique, including the brief "Black Metal War" with its more fast and chaotic songwriting. My personal favorite instruments here are "Blood of Christians on My Sword", "Thousand Swords", and "Born for War". While the instruments still go for a raw sound, the pagan atmosphere is done well here and would go on to influence their later records.
We then move on to the vocals. Rob Darken's vocals on the previous album was okay, but nothing too special. Here, they've been improved upon. His vocals mainly use deep growls, which are dragged on for as long as possible. This specific gurgling of the vocals makes Rob sound very angry and gives him a hateful personality, and it flows well to the instruments, especially on the track "The Dark Battlefield". The track is slightly more melodic, but still very dark in its overall sound, and Rob reflects this with his growls about the battlefield that he struggles to fight in. When the instruments get more chaotic, his vocals get more feral and crazed, which is a great reflection on the intensity of the atmosphere. Rob Darken basically found his signature vocal style here, and it's fantastic in maintaining the dark viking atmosphere.
And then there's the lyrics. While Carpathian Wolves mainly dealt with Celtic beliefs and myths, Thousand Swords, meanwhile, made a drastic shift to war, paganism, and anti-Christianity themes in the lyrics. One example of this would be in "Blood of Christians on My Sword", where this verse quotes:
Another Christian village is near
Those who escaped showed us the way
By the blood from their wounds
We must deal them a deathblow
Before wolves get them
On the horizon behind us
Basically, this verse talks about how the vikings plan to raid a Christian-led village. Most black metal lyrics that dealt with anti-Christianity themes did so in a pro-Satanism way. Here, however, the anti-Christianity hatred comes from a pagan perspective, which is especially shown in "Born for War", where Rob growls about how he lost his family to the Christian warriors as a child. I would argue that this sort of makes this a concept album, where Rob and his army are fighting off the Christians out of vengeance for his family, which I think is pretty neat. The stories in the lyrics are massively improved upon, and they would be fitting to the dark and viking-like sound of the instruments.
Overall, this album was a massive improvement of the previous release. The instruments have a good blend between being raw and paganistic, Rob begins to show his classic vocals on here, and the change in lyrical themes is done well. With the positive reception of the album, Graveland would only expand upon the viking themes on the next two albums "Following the Voice of Blood" and "Immortal Pride", but this starter album is still great. I'd say give "Thousand Swords" a listen if you're in the mood for some pagan black metal.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=jZDHl2P6oR0
