Frijgard - "Chapter Zero" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Frijgard

Title: Chapter Zero

Genre: Epic Heavy/Black Metal

Time: 48.33 min

Release date: 14th June 2019

Vote: 86/100

Some months ago I received a new physical pack from Art Gates Records. Among others, I found into that pack “Chapter Zero”, the third album by Frijgard, a very interesting band from the northern Switzerland whose moniker is a funny pun derived from Fricktal, the name of their region. In fact, reading from an interview on the Web (you can reach it through the following link: https://www.metalcentre.com/2019/11/frijgard-interview-with-sandro-vocal-bass/), “Frick” was the Swiss name’s variation for Frija, that is the wife of Odin. Instead, “-gard” is simply used in the Nordic mythology to indicate a world (i.e. Asgard). So, through this kind of moniker, one can imagine that Frijgard are into viking metal… but the reality is veeery different. Let’s see why and how!

Consisting of 8 tracks, “Chapter Zero” sees a creative and not so usual combination between heavy and black metal, mixing them with different influences, especially with rockish tunes, and playing usually through powerful mid-tempos, even though the fast tempos are here and there, as already shown by the opening song “Blazing Ark”, where there are also some blast-beats. The atmosphere is often epic but, in according to the different situations, it can be even happy (OH YEEEAH, you read very well!) or meditative thanks, for example, to acoustic parts that are used to open many songs (i.e. “Crimson Skies”). There is need to say that the sound is really embracing because, for example, of a lead guitar not only creating many layered riffs so to reinforce greatly the rhythmic guitar but playing also nice and simple solos that are virtuosistic in no ways, in order to help the music to be in a more atmospheric manner. Another feature of Frijgard comes from the vocals of the bassplayer Sandro (that, along with the guitarist Michael, is one of the historic members of the band since their foundation dated 2009), who growls almost in a peculiar way and, in addition, I must underline that this is the first album in the history of Frijgard to be sung in English while the other two were in German.

Now, “Chapter Zero” is an album characterized by a good variety, as you’ll see soon. For this purpose, I can mention firstly “Falling Stars”, that is without any doubts my favorite song of the album and that contains not only rockish tunes but also, incredible to say!, some fast power metal moments, besides an outstanding performance by the drummer Maxi. The following “Crimson Skies” is surprisingly a ballad played with a great emotional involvement and, surely, it is the most emotive number in the tracklist. After that, there is “Haven”, another fantastic song strong of ‘80s hard rock passages where the acoustic guitars are combined with the electric ones. Then, here you are “Red Lines Crossed”, an 8-minute tour de force with even some punkish tunes (like in its opening seconds) and containing also a long instrumental part in the middle with an atmospheric guitar solo but I confess that this track is a bit prolix and too lenghty, so I don’t like it so much. But the amazing tunes come already back with “Aftermath”, another song with no fast tempos which is mentionable for its memorable alternation between epicness and melancholy. And now I think that all these examples are enough for you to understand the notable skills possessed by Frijgard, so it’s time for the conclusions…

… and my conclusions are simple: we are in presence of a band creating a remarkable album where epicness, potency, harshness and great melodies are mixed for a very peculiar sound able often to engage the listeners in a strongly emotive way, and this isn’t so common for a band that, fundamentally, is musically extreme. At this point, if I had to name bands reviewed on these pages with some similarities with Frijgard, I am sure that they will like to the fans of acts such as All My Sins, Harmdaud, and Popiół , that have all a similar approach to conceive the black metal music, especially in terms of atmosphere, while I can mention also Agatus, that have a more heavy metal-oriented approach just as Frijgard. In addition, I must say that Frijgard are another demonstration that the Swiss scene is very able to create bands with personal sounds and creative ideas (see Final Cut, Gonoreas, Lykhaeon and blah blah blah), so it isn't a case if I included them in the new episode of "Come on, burn my ears!".

Tracklist:

1 - Blazing Ark
2 - Blurry Horizon
3 - Falling Stars
4 - Crimson Skies
5 - Haven
6 - Red Lines Crossed
7 - Aftermath
8 - Tilia

Line-up:

Sandro - vocals/bass
Michael - guitars
Alex - guitars
Maxi - drums

Homepage: https://frijgard.ch/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Frijgard
Art Gates Records: http://www.artgatesrecords.com/