THOR'S HAMMER is a Polish NSBM band consisting in Boleslaw (guitars) and Capricornus (vox, drums, keyboards, guitars). Capricornus was the drummer on the first GRAVELAND releases, from the demo days 'til the excellent "Following the voice of blood" album. Then he left that band in order to involve completely in his side projects, CAPRICORNUS and THOR'S HAMMER. And the least I can say is that he took a very good decision ! Because THOR'S HAMMER music is a perfect mix between Death Metal and Black metal. The vocals and some guitar riffs are more influenced by death metal than by any other style, whereas other guitar riffs, drum parts and keyboards are completely characteristic of Polish black metal. And this combination of both styles is excellent with THOR'S HAMMER ! The background synth parts create a pagan atmosphere that fits perfectly to the oppressive vocals and raw guitar parts. The sound is excellent, clear and shows all the power of the music. Such tracks as "Fidelity shall triumph", "Don't let your folk forget" and "Nothing but hate" are jewels of hatred and they reveal a real creativity from Capricornus, whose departure from GRAVELAND is really a big loss for Rob Darken's band... This CD was out on Darker than Black, the label lead by a member of ABSURD, and I think it's quite widely available through small distributors although I'm not sure of this...

9 / 10

© 2003 lord pesten