The first thing that struck me about this was the cover. Graveland‘s old logo, which I really liked, has been replaced with this Bathory-esque plain old English logo. The original cover for Thousand Swords has been changed to a very colorful battle scene, but ends up looking like a rejected scene from a B-movie Robin Hood ripoff. The spine also misspells Graveland as ‘Gravelans’, but I’m sure Darken doesn’t give a fuck about grammar here. This album is pure fucking hate and war (pure ‘pagan battle stuff’). This is the bridge between the Mayhem-ish style of Graveland‘s early days and the onset of the more unique Following The Voice Of Blood style. Great epic songs are contained herein, and Capricornus’ drumming is actually pretty good (compared to, say In the Glare Of Burning Churches, hehehe), and it works well with the material. Darken’s voice cries out (much in the style of Following…) through the music, evoking spectres of revenge and the totally grim. Darken’s keyboard work is also as great as ever; he really has a knack for the keys, and evidences how keyboards should ideally operate in a raw black metal album. Every track on this album completely impressed me, and already being a Graveland fan, I was glad that they were honored with a re-release of one of their most essential works. The only song which really breaks the mood is "Black Metal War", which is about 2 minutes of modified blast-beat and old-style Graveland, complete with a return to Darken’s fabulous screaming. Basically, if you like your black metal raw, hateful, very evocative and very emotionally inspiring – this is a most essential release. The original pressings of this wonderful album are nigh unobtainable, so do yourself a favor and pick this up. It is good to see that the rumours of the No Colours dissemination were bullshit.

Review bySodomy-Kommando