Varg – Wolfskult

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Wolfskult is full length album number three for Varg, and frankly there’s something about Varg’s image that feels a little off. If one were to talk about a metal act by the name of Varg, one immediately thinks Burzum; likewise, if one talks about a metal act that paints themselves all in black and red, one immediately thinks Turisas. From a cynical point of view one would think Varg were plagiarizing here, though given that they sound like neither, one can happily give them the benefit of the doubt. Varg’s music has been broadly described as ‘Pagan metal’, which frankly means little more than the band sing about the usual viking and folk metal topics. There’s a notable viking metal influence of course which makes up the body of their sound, and at times it borders on outright black metal (the latter part of Naglfar in particular). Whilst their music does sometimes have a bit of a Finntroll-esque groove to it that would lend itself to being described as folk metal, the majority of the record has a more chuggy rhythm to it. Oddly, when you ignore the band’s Germanic black metal sneer, their music sounds surprisingly like Amon Amarth, albeit nowhere near as good. All this results in a messy mix of styles and influences – suddenly copping out and describing them as pagan metal doesn’t seem like such a bad idea! As an album Wolfskult isn’t particularly exciting, though it’s not a total loss either. It just seems like the band have mixed in influences from different corners of extreme metal, but meshed it in a way that isn’t very interesting or noteworthy. It doesn’t help that on the whole the material here is poorly crafted, albeit decently played, resulting in a recording that’s capable but underwhelming. On the plus side though, at least it has a bit of a pulse to it – so whilst it’s a bit of a mess, at least it’s a fast mess you can still headbang to. Which is more than what can be said for some records.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Black Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Varg