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This has been getting big, big press - and not just on this site – as a masterpiece of Viking Metal. Falkenbach are essentially a one-man band, and this is their third full-length album. Reviews of this CD have ranged from rhapsodic to superlative, and for the life of me I can't see why.

The album title translates to "And twice name Tyr", which I'm sure is a reference to an old Runic spell for victory: "To prevail in battle, carve runes upon your sword-hilt, and twice name Tyr". With a title like that I was expecting a booming exercise in Epic/Viking Metal in the vein of later Bathory. Nothing could be further from the case. This is generally very mellow and laid-back music with a lot of folk influence (obviously) and a plentitude of traditional instrumentation. The songs are long, the melodies are very nice, and the vocals are mostly decent clean vox, with some rasps thrown in for variety.

Now I like this album, but it is severely lacking in metal. There are some harsh vocals on this disc, but the guitars are practically inaudible. Instead there is a heavy focus on orchestration and keys, often backed by strings or a flute. It sure is an original sound, but I just don't find it that compelling. I have been listening to this one over and over, trying to get a handle on what people love so much about this album, but it just isn't getting my rocks off. This is very nice background music with a lot of sweep and a cinematic feel, but it has nothing particularly memorable about it even after a lot of listens. I won't turn this off, but I don't really get an urge to listen to it either.

So if you want some mellow, melodic folky music then this is good album. But there is very, very little metal about it, and if you took away the harsh vocals here and there, this could be easily sold on the New Age rack at the music store. So while I like this disc, I cannot in good conscience rate it that highly on a metal website, as this is only barely a metal album at all.