Thousand Swords
| Thousand Swords | ||||
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| Studio album by Graveland | ||||
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Publication |
1995 |
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admission |
December 1994 |
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| Label (s) | Lethal Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
46:54 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
tuba |
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Thousand Swords is the second album by the Polish NSBM / pagan metal band Graveland . It was released by Lethal Records in 1995.
Emergence
The album was recorded in December 1994 in the tuba studio in Wroclaw , with Grzegorz Czachor helping the band with mixing and as a sound engineer .
After Graveland was released from their contract due to anti-Semitic , right-wing extremist statements by Lethal Records, Darken first released the album as an MC on his label Isengard Production and incited in the supplement against the supposedly Jewish record companies Osmose Productions , Lethal Records and Nuclear Blast . Darken later switched to No Colors Records , on which a digipak was available from 1999 . Further new releases followed, both on CD and as LP .
In August 2014 a rehearsal version of the album without vocals and keyboards under the title Resharpening Thousand Swords was released on cassette.
Track list
Music and lyrics by Darken, intro by Karcharoth.
- Intro - 01:35
- Blood of Christians on My Sword - 08:05
- Thousand Swords - 06:32
- The Dark Battlefield - 07:57
- The Time of Revenge - 04:50
- Born for War - 08:31
- Black Metal War - 1:42
- To Die in Fight - 05:41
- Outro - 02:01
layout
The cover shows a black and white photograph taken by Raborym of Darken in the forest, wearing corpsepaint , sword, shield and armor.
Music genre
With Thousand Swords , the band goes stylistically in the direction of their later Pagan Metal albums, the releases represent an intermediate link between the Scandinavian Black Metal-inspired style of the early Graveland releases and the style of the successor, Following the Voice of Blood .
The album begins with an “anthemic” intro from a distorted guitar to a constant tom- tom rhythm, accompanied by an acoustic guitar; the intro flows smoothly into the first real song Blood of Christians on My Sword . Folk elements are repeatedly used on the album , which, depending on the review, are used as subtle or over a large part of the album instead of typical metal riffs and thus dominate over similarities to Burzum and Bathory .
The guitars move into the background in the sound of the album. The singing is a constant croak throughout. On the drums, in addition to aggressive passages, rhythms are used that are reminiscent of the galloping of horses.
Texts
The lyrics are about battles against Christians and show patriotic and pagan , but no openly right-wing extremist references, as they were openly represented by Darken and Capricornus from around 1994.
In the liner notes , however, there is a text by Darkens with corresponding content; in this he describes himself as "black druids of darkness" and "warriors of the new aeon " and denounces the demonization of the pagan deities and the destruction of their temples by the Christians; these would have opened his fatherland to foreigners who would have mixed their blood with that of the Poles. Darken calls for the beheading of the Pope, a leader who is supposed to unite the pagans under the swastika known as the “cross with broken arms” , revenge for the pagans killed by the Christians and the defense of the southern borders against the “black plague” and the “ Crescent, ”by which he means black and Muslim immigrants.
Reviews
On the one hand, the album is considered a classic by Graveland and the best release of the band, but was sometimes not discussed due to the ideology.
Alex Donks described Thousand Swords as a very experimental and conceptual album, the "best expression of the pagan spirit in the realm of black metal" and possibly the best album in black metal ever. The continuous use of genuine folk melodies gives the album enormous power, the work of the musicians transcends “mere music”. With the use of repetitive leitmotifs, narrative musical arcs and dramatic progression, one hears not just a song, but a musical storytelling; thus the album is closer to Richard Wagner than any metal. As the album almost completely discards riffing, drumming, song structure and production, as they are common in Black Metal, it is "groundbreaking".
Sputnikmusic's Kyle Ward, however, advises against Thousand Swords . According to him, if listened objectively, the album appears to be "little more than sub-par Black Metal with a few interesting moments". Darken's sheer disregard for songwriting and musical prowess is almost astonishing, even for raw Black Metal. Darken is uninspired and has written an album on which all the songs sound practically the same even if you listen carefully. Ward mocked the sound of the album. The only saving factor are the light folk elements hidden in the songs, and the riff that introduces the song Blood of Christians on My Sword .
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Dornbusch , Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Alliances . Black Metal between Satanism, Paganism and Neo-Nazism. Unrast Verlag , Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-817-0 , p. 240 .
- ↑ Thousand Swords. Discogs , accessed December 29, 2012 .
- ↑ Graveland to Release Rehearsal Tape of Thousand Swords (Release Details & Stream) ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e Lars Christiansen: Graveland - Thousand Swords Review .
- ↑ SODOMY COMMAND: Graveland “Thousand Swords” .
- ↑ a b Kyle Ward: Graveland - Thousand Swords (album review) .
- ↑ a b c d e Alex Donks: Graveland - Thousand Swords ( Memento from December 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Interview with Capricornus of GRAVELAND . In: Petrified , No. 3, 1994.
- ^ Frank Stöver: Behemoth . The Bards of Eastern Lands! . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 8, 1996.
- ↑ Seker: No Colors Records: 15 years jubileum metal attack! ( Memento of April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ a b Christian Dornbusch , Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Alliances . Black Metal between Satanism, Paganism and Neo-Nazism. Unrast Verlag, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-817-0 , p. 243 .
- ↑ “No NAZI CRAP gets reviewed in here !!” Frank Stöver: GRAVELAND . Thousand swords * CD'95 . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 7, 1996, p. 24.
