Wyrd, hailing from Finland, is creating some of the most original and amazing black metal in the world today. Inspired from and by Nature and the roots of his Nordic Soul. Melding elements of folklore and the forest with 'traditional Norwegian black metal' this album consists of one epic journey, a 55+ minute song.
This album is epic, beautiful and very folk oriented. Enchanting riffs combined with an extensive vocal range that pays tribute to nature keep the listener compelled, and wanting more. No nature themed black metal band has won me over quite like Wyrd has. There is a lot of variation on this album and the riffs repeat each other but only for short periods of time and change at just the right moment to keep the listener from getting bored. The intensity shifts throughout the album but flows perfectly so the listener feels like they are traveling some journey within the realms of the world Wyrd has created. Sometimes the song has a break and Wyrd builds up a very folk melody that makes me picture a time long ago. And if you listen carefully you can hear sounds of battle and the call of bag-pipes to the fallen warriors. Soooo good.
For fans of Agalloch, Drudkh, Woods Of Ypres, Falkenbach, Bathory and other Norwegian forefathers.
LP comes with double sided printed innersheet with full lyrics. This is a great album. The only song present in this released is the result of a word started in 1998, and completed in the summer of 2001.There're no negative sides on this album: even if the sound quality is quite low, the song is able to give strong emotions to the listener. Slow and fast passages are alternated, sometimes mixed with the atmospheric rumble of a battle or the sound of the rain. Also the vocal side is great. Screaming vocals, clean vocals and sopken voice are incredibly well used by the finnish mastermind. Unfortunately the intonation of the clean vocals isn't very good but Narqath sings with a lot of passion.
I think also that the lyrics are simply wonderful. Try to listen to the song reading them. They express all the wrath and the desire of vengeance of the heathen tribes defeated and converted by the christians missionaries. And Narqath's voice express incredibly well all these sensations. A masterpiece for all the pagan black metallers, especially for Bathory and Falkenbach's fans.
Official re-issue of WYRD’s epic debut album, out of print for almost two decades!!!
WYRD, Finland's top-selling Pagan Metal band, delivers a long overdue official re-issue of their legendary debut album "Heathen"! Out of print world-wide since 2005, the band's epic debut album is finally available once more.
One of Finland’s oldest and most epic Pagan Metal bands with a vast catalog, including 11 full-length albums, multiple EP's and splits, WYRD require no introduction to metal fans world-wide. Originally forming as a side-band of AZAGHAL leader Narqath, WYRD soon took on a life of its own and became a full time band, touring and consistently releasing new albums. Where AZAGHAL is pure Finish Black Metal, WYRD explores the epic realms of pagan culture and mixes Black Metal with Folk and Doom to create a sound unique to WYRD.
21 years after its original release, "Heathen" is as epic and ground breaking today as it was upon its initial release.
"Heathen" is the first full length album by the two-person band, Wyrd. The album contains only one song, although the length of the song is 51 + minutes long. The challenging part of creating a song is keeping the listener interested all the way through. I mean, I'm normally get bored by 10 minute "epic" songs by the likes of oh, lets say Opeth but Wyrd manage to keep the listener enthralled all through out the songs length.
Yes, this song is quite epic. It starts off slow with some acoustic passage and then builds into something "grim" after a couple of minutes. "Heathen" does many stylistic changes just like that one, from nice acoustic interludes, to pure black metal and even to some extent, some synth oriented parts. There are also a lot of folk influences on the album which just does a great deal to the atmosphere.
The guitar work all throughout the album is amazing. The more metal riffs never seem to grow old or stale and each riff seems to be more epic than the last. The acoustic parts really add a lot to the song as well. The drum work on the album is solid, nothing really spectacular but you do feel it's presence all throughout the song. The vocals are nothing short of amazing. Narqath does a really nice job with the vocals. From harsh, raspy black metal screams to some epic, deep, folky vocals he truly makes the album an enjoyable experience.
It's near impossible to summarize this album up in a word or a short sentence as there is a lot to it. I really do believe that this is one of the greatest pagan black metal albums of all time. From beginning to end, it is a beautiful work of music and makes the listener want to hear more.
Sample:
