I have never really considered myself a fan of these neo-medieval bands that are coming out by the shitload these days. I have picked up a release here & there, but they never did much for me. About 2 years ago I decided to get Wongraven. I listened to it many times, and I must say that I was pretty impressed as a whole. But now, 2 years later, I find myself listening to this record at LEAST once a week...usually a lot more. Now when I think of the album as a whole, I think it's -okay-. But as on a lot of albums, there is one truly fucking amazing track, and this is the first 17 minute song entitled "Det var en gang et Menneske". I don't know exactly what it is about this one track that makes me fucking crave it day after day. But whenever I listen to this song, it's as if time freezes & I am having a dream. Yeah, sounds fucking retarded as shit, but it's true. It starts with a sort of trance-like monotony on the keyboard that pierces into your mind...slowly progressing with forlorn sounds of wind, whispers & "real" tympani drums. All of this succeeds in taking the listener to his/her imagination, wherever it may be. As this progresses, it becomes more & more of an Epic song, but building up -PERFECTLY-. By the end of this song, you are wondering where the fuck 17 minutes just went (and it plunges you into the incredibly stupid second song which is just a piano & chants that sound like they are taken straight from Rosmary's Baby). The 3rd track actually reminds of a song from the old Nintendo game "Rygar" (if anyone remembers that). The 4th song is probably the most "medieval" sounding one, reminiscent of a Conan-like atmosphere. And the 5th track is more or less an epic, chanting outro. All these tracks blend together as one, but none of them even come close to comparing to the first song. I have no problem recommending this release to anyone based on just "Det var en gang et Menneske" (what the motherfuck does that mean, anyway?). I know Satyr is a narcissistic asswipe for the most part, but he will always have my respect for doing this album, which just blatantly destroys anything else that tries to be atmospheric in this style...because I will honestly tell you that no keyboard, atmospheric song has ever given me the feeling of this one, and I am quite positive that no song ever will. Of course, this is just my opinion, so it doesn't really mean anything at all.

© 1998 atrox666