{"id":3813,"date":"2021-03-06T22:09:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T22:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2021-03-06T22:10:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T22:10:04","slug":"einherjer-north-star-disappointing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/archives\/3813","title":{"rendered":"Einherjer: North Star – Disappointing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My first spins of Einherjer’s<\/b> latest record were underwhelming, but we all know that happens from time to time. It takes a few plays to really sink in and become the classic album it endeavors to be. However, while this isn’t uncommon, subsequent plays only reaffirmed my dismay. <\/p>\n

The band’s breakup following 2003’s AotY contender, Blot<\/a> was succeeded by a reformed union and 2011’s Norr\u00f8n<\/a>, a solid, if flawed, record. With diminished expectations, I proclaimed the follow-up, Av Oss, For Oss<\/b>, 2014’s Album of the Year<\/a>. The pristine blend of viking, retro rock and melodicism, it was well deserving of that year’s crown. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, its follow-up, 2018’s Norr\u00f8ne Spor<\/b> left me with a tinge of disappointment. It’s hardly unfair – the successor to an AotY record is always held to a higher standard than any ol’ record. Thus, 20201’s arrival of North Star<\/b> theoretically should be<\/I> held to a somewhat-reduced level of scrutiny! Even with that, this new record only issues forth several memorable songs to mingle with its entirely-forgettable ones. To contrast with Av Oss, For Oss<\/b>, this new record’s closer is simply unlistenable to mine ears. A few songs are worthwhile, but the true test is by re-listening to the back catalogue.<\/p>\n

I’m not even talking classic Einherjer<\/b> here. I listened to the last one – the so-so Norr\u00f8ne Spor<\/b> had some real bangers and ones I’ll return to. Both Spre Vingene and D\u00f8den Tar Ingen Fangar are catchy, riffy and metal-as-fuck. Moving backwards more, my aforementioned AotY still stands up, with memorable sections, headbangy choruses and viking-up-the-ass atittude.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this new one only has a few I might ever wish to return to: The Blood And The Iron, Higher Fire and maybe one or two others. It’s heart-breaking and makes me wonder if the truly great album from Einherjer<\/b> is the exception, not the norm. *shrug*. AotY this is not. :(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first spins of Einherjer’s latest record were underwhelming, but we all know that happens from time to time. It takes a few plays to really sink in and become the classic album it endeavors to be. However, while this isn’t uncommon, subsequent plays only reaffirmed my dismay. The band’s breakup following 2003’s AotY contender, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,13,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-worst","category-blog","category-music","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3816,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions\/3816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}