Review: Adorned Brood: Kuningaz

Now to all Adorned Brood fans who may be reading this, before you put on your viking helmets and grab your swords and shields to attack me for the fact that Kuningaz came out like three weeks ago, I would ask you to kindly remove your armor and go back to enjoying your mead.  Yes I do realize it was released on November 23rd and I meant to buy it on that day but I totally forgot about that until yesterday so I felt like I would review it now.  That being said, lets begin the review.

For those of you who don't know Adorned Brood they are a 6 piece folk/black metal band from Germany and if you are fans of folk metal in any way, do your self a favor and look these guys up.  I will admit that I only found out about these guys shortly before I went on my Thanksgiving break, but I really liked what I heard on their previous albums and made it a priority to buy this album when it finally came out. 

Adorned Brood's brand of folk metal can be compared to that of Finland's Ensiferum, epic sounding viking themed folk metal with harsh vocals to top it all off, however unlike Ensiferum, Adorned Brood attacks with more ferociousness than their Finland counterparts.  What I mean is that although they have both a flute player and a keyboard player to provide the proper background to the songs, the music created by the guitars, bass, drums, and vocals make up the bulk of the Adorned Brood cake (so to speak) and the flute and keys are like the frosting and cherry on top.  Instead of being combined with the rest of the band, the keys and flute come in at the most opportune moments to help complete the song.  I would like to say that there is nothing wrong with the way that Ensiferum has concocted their metal cake (figured I had to roll with this analogy).  Ensiferum is one of my favorite bands and given the choice between a slice from their cake or a slice of Adorned Brood cake, I would stab the server with my viking sword and steal a piece of each.

Enough of this talk about cake, on to the album! On Kuningaz, Adorned Brood's 8th album, these German vikings continue with their own unique form of folk metal.  One that combines fierce black/death metal instrumentals and vocals, a la Amon Amarth and King of Asgard, and adds flutes, key boards and group vocals to create a sound that fans have come to love over the years.  Kuningaz starts off with a very pretty instrumental entitled "Einkehr" which is perfect for transporting the listener to Adorned Brood's far off viking land.  The combination of acoustic guitars, flutes and keys make me feel as if I am flying over a viking village and getting a tour of the whole town.  Flying over the market, the castle, graveyard etc.  In the roughly 3 minute intro I see the whole landscape that the rest of Kuningaz takes me through.  After the intro, the title track starts in.  Like the track that came before it its starts with a nice flute intro until about 0:26 in when the rest of the band starts doing their thing.  Unlike most songs that may start with a verse, "Kuningaz" starts with the chorus that could be compared to a chorus of an Ensiferum song.  Around 1:28 the Adorned Brood we know and love emerges with their special breed of harsh vocals shouting the line "Kuningaz!" that just begs to be chanted loudly at one of their shows.  There were lots of times during this song when the vocals reminded me of those of Dani from Cradle of Filth, that definitely was a new style of vocals I had never heard from a folk metal band before.  "Kuningaz" is one of the better tracks on the album and left we waiting with anticipation to see what the band would do next.

One of my other favorite songs on the album is the hilariously titled "Men!" (yes the exclamation point is in the title).  At first I thought it was just a silly and great song about how awesome it is to be a man (and at the same time I thought what the girl in the band thinks about this song).  Then on a second listen, I pictured a bunch of guys sitting in an old bar during the time of the vikings singing this song, and the song became that much better! (not that it wasn't great before) I suggest thinking about that when you listen to "Men!" because I can not only seeing vikings drinking and singing this song, but also guys in a sports bar drinking and singing this song. 

In conclusion, Kuningaz is a great and welcomed addition to my ever growing collection of folk/viking/pagan (still haven't come up with an analogy for that yet) metal.  It will please any Adorned Brood fan, and will also rope in any new fans (such as my self) and make them want to explore everything that this band has to offer.  Because when you look at Adorned Brood they are just as good, and in some cases better, than some of the bigger folk/viking/pagan metal bands and they need to be recognized for all the amazing stuff they've done in the past and present, as well as all the music they will make in the future. 

Overall Rating: 8/10

Thanks guys!
-Zach

Remember if you have a band you want me to talk about leave a comment below or tweet me @zachktheanimal.