YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO TAAKE’S NOREGS VAAPEN

Sammy O’Hagar gave Taake’s Noregs Vaapen a rave review at the beginning of October, and since I take Sammy’s opinion very seriously, I immediately made a mental note to give it a listen. Unfortunately, I’m an asshole, and I probably should have made a physical note, ’cause I completely forgot to check out Noregs Vaapen until it Candlelight actually released earlier this week.

But I’m glad I finally got around to it, ’cause this album is AWESOME. I have really not heard a lot of black metal that I really loved this year, but everything about this album is so killer… the songs are well-written, and Taake knows to play with convention just enough to make old tricks seem new again. (For example: the totally awesome banjo solo on “Myr,” which sounds like a rad, epic metal guitar solo, only played on banjo. SO. FRICKIN’. COOL.)

Now Noregs Vaapen is streaming in its entirety right here, and I strongly encourage you to check it out. I have no idea if this gonna actually end up making my year end list or not, but it’s definitely a contender; I’ve probably listened to it a dozen times in the past thirty-six hours or so, and I love it more with each listen. We’ll see how it holds up in the coming weeks.

-AR