Imhotep Online-Mag, www.imhotep.no, Norway
HAGAL “Sterbender Traum” (2004) self-released (8 / 10)
"Sterbender Traum". Dying Dream. No other name would've fit this album. We are presented here with an album of dark and depressive black metal. The vocals given out are tormented screams of pain and horror. The guitars, crying their melodies, black and cold. The riffs are amazingly interesting, despite the fact that the first song is eight minutes long, It's still amazingly interesting.
It can be used as an example of "Sterbender Traum", dark, painful, interesting. And then... when you expect the guitar to fade into another excellent riff, silence rules the air between the speakers and you, and a quiet and folk'ish acoustic guitar is rising from it.
But when I say folk'ish, I don't mean to something like Finntroll or Ensiferum, I mean something much less cheerful.
Generally, the album is not brutal, fast or anything that makes your head bang. The general speed is relatively slow paced, something like "Sons of Northern Darkness" by Immortal. There's a certain speed in the music, and it's noticeable, but it's not the main thing behind the riffs.
I can honestly say I haven't enjoyed that much of an album for a really long time (even though I couldn't understand the lyrics,
since I’m not speaking any German...). Hagal produced the album by themselves, proving the world that you don't have to have a huge deal with a record company to get a great production, and you can just as well do it yourself. (www.hagal-blackmetal.de)
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