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Whatever is in the water in Finland and Sweden that drives so many musicians to form metal bands doesn't seem to make it west into Norway at the same concentrations, but the country still produces its fair share of metal. Morax is a new solo project from Inculter guitarist/vocalist Remi A. Nygård, who handles all the instruments and singing on The Amulet, the band's debut album. The style is traditional heavy metal with some '70s occult and even spacey hard rock influences, giving the songs a different atmosphere than your typical, straight-up heavy metal. Most of The Amulet is comprised of anthemic, riffy songs like "Belial Rising" and "Inverted Church," but what stuck with me most was the Dio-era Sabbath style of "Seven Pierced Hearts," which starts out slow and doomy then speeds up during a pulsating middle section, in the vein of songs like "Heaven and Hell" and "Falling Off the Edge of the World." I wouldn't put The Amulet on the level of Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, but its slightly quirky yet still direct and thundering metal is worth breaking out the air guitar. A solid debut from Morax.