CoC : Allegiance - Hymn Till Hangagud : Review

Allegiance - _Hymn Till Hangagud_
(No Fashion, 1996)
by: Drew Snow (7 out of 10)

After receiving Allegiance's debut album, _Hymn Till Hangagud_, I was overcome with a feeling of total... (get ready) non-feeling. This viking black metal (at least so says their image: Swedish flag, hammers and axes, members posing on mountains with swords held high; I think you get the picture) release inspires absolutely nothing in me. Nothing extraordinarily good or bad, just plain, ordinary mid-paced to fast black/death metal, played with some skill and perhaps numbed by rather boring songwriting. The vocals are a throaty rasp, and similar to Old Man's Child in that respect. Guitars are decent, well played, but with riffs that are pretty unoriginal and definitely not groundbreaking. Drums, well, you guessed it: typically played, nothing outstanding here. This CD has been highly recommended by a few people I've talked to, but for the life of me I can't really see why, there are just so many more worthy titles out there in this vein which dominate all over this. After the searing first track, I expected more from this one. Certainly not -bad-, just don't expect something to blow you away.

(article published 2/1/1997)

ALBUMS
19/5/1999	P Azevedo	8	Allegiance - Vrede
7/6/1997	D Schinzel	6	Allegiance - Blodornsoffer