EQUILIBRIUM „Sagas”

Music: Epic/Symphonic Folk/Viking Metal
Website: http://www.equilibrium-metal.de
Country: Germany
Cool songs: Wurzelbert, Verrat, Des Sängers Fluch, Mana

The guys from Nuclear Blast know where to find great teams who play fantastic music. It seemed that folk/viking metal has not got anything to offer now, that everything which this genre can do has been performed and recorded. That such bigwigs as BATHORY or FALKENBACH will be remembered forever for their unforgettable input. Now it seems that all that has been written above is just a pile of crap. Prepare for the most powerful and surprising album of the year, or even a decade.

The music embedded in this small piece of plastic is amazing. It cannot be put into words what the musicians are doing, how they are doing it and why?! The answer is not a simple one because there is not a single clue to reveal the mystery of this phenomenon. First of all, the album is filled with a vast number of sophisticated melodies. Just to understand the whole idea, try to imagine a band combining the craft, dynamics and ideas of RHAPSODY, thrashing power of OVERKILL or TESTAMENT, embellishing it with black tunes of SATYRICON and adding a tremendous amount of IRON MAIDEN melody. What is more, spice it up with fantastic HELLOWEEN motive force and cheerful atmosphere and you will get something which sounds like EQUILIBRIUM! Damn it! Such bands should be worshipped till the end of the world. It seemed impossible to combine all those elements but they did it! They – a bunch of metalheads from Germany, very young indeed, who want to play great music, straight from their hearts.

The album starts quite poetic and that mood stays till the end. Each of the compositions is started by an intro composed with great attention to classic standards, building a suspense and creating a waiting-like atmosphere. The intros are mainly performed on keyboard and panpipe (fantastic craftsmanship by Ulrich Herkenhoff, known from appearing on the soundtrack of the third part of ‘The Lord of the Rings’) and how do they sound… it is pure honey. It is a crossover of VANGELIS and the prestidigitators from DEEP FOREST: calm and poetic sounds, with strong emotional background and an intensive groove. The compositions are of different kinds, for instance: ‘Wurzelbert’ begins with one of the best (being quite simple at the same time) riffs so far, creating a fantastic powerful atmosphere of deathish play. It is a kind of death-like roundabout with a bag of melodic elements and huge dynamics. The rest of the songs is quite similar, but… there are no two songs which would sound at least similar. It is a feast, an orgy of sounds, music and ideas. The huge amount of power is countered by fascinating joy and happiness. The musicians play with their music, push it to different levels, squeeze it into various genres and give it sophisticated shape. Once you can hear a death riff, then it changes into almost pink-like, sparkled delicate keyboard solo which calms everything down. The extremely thrashy ‘Verrat’ starts very heavy, by an authentic thrash riff and in the middle changes into a melodic folk composition. On the other hand, ethnic and melodic 'Unbesiegt’ starts with dynamic and fast folk tune and in the middle it is embellished with sheer chaos – a thrash/death riff which pulverizes and makes the whole composition sound more unique.

The band consists of five musicians but from the beginning the listener has an impression that there is at least an orchestra of them. The big blast of sounds sometimes can confuse. Mainly thanks to the keyboard operator who draws such an interesting melodies and tunes out of the panel. Thanks to such innovative approach the music is extremely varied and no motif repeats throughout the listening process. The compositions are divided into several, strictly bind parts, which as a result create a journey through the valley of sound. And a crowning achievement of the musicians’ performance is ‘Mana’, the final composition, lasting for more then 16 minutes. It is an extravagant, spellbinding, and poetic instrumental composition, an outstanding epic creation. A creation formed by an alliance of innovation, joy, aggression, phantasmal spasmodic moves and passion – a passion of play. A fantastic ending composition, a great closer, nothing more can or even should be added. Nothing, because the whole is combined of seven different motifs, each one telling a different story (or completing the previous, it depends truly on the imagination of the listener) and it is the strength of the composition, the strength of the whole album, the strength of EQUILIBRIUM.

EQUILIBRIUM did something amazing, they created a masterpiece, and this is just their second album. The first ‘Turis Fratyr’ album did well on the folk scene and brought some fresh air into the closet. Now with ‘Sagas’ EQUILIBRIUM simply smites the competitors and heads towards the finish line to win the prize for the best album of all times. Such albums are recorded only once in a lifetime, but something tells me that it is still not the last word from Sandra, Helge, René, Andi and Manu. They have got a huge potential and one day they will amaze the world once again, with a thrilling sound from their dreams and nightmares.

note: 10!/10

Tracklist

1. Prolog auf Erden
2. Wurzelbert
3. Blut im Auge
4. Unbesiegt
5. Verrat
6. Snüffel
7. Heimwärts
8. Heiderauche
9. Die Weide und der Fluß
10. Des Sängers Fluch
11. Ruf in den Wind
12. Dämmerung
13. Mana

Total playing time 79:14

Line-up

Helge Stang – vocals
René Berthiaume – guitar, keyboards
Andreas Völkl – guitar
Sandra Völkl – bass
Manu Di Camillo – drums

Guest musicians:
Gaby Koss – vocals
Ulrich Herkenhoff – panpipe
Agnes Malich – violin