(Black Pagan Metal) Trimonium - Son Of A Blizzard - 2007, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

A strong, well-thought approach to Black Metal - 86% .
I often find myself challenged into deciding an evaluation for albums, just because I don't want to throw off 80+ high marks for anything I like. I'm doubly challenged when a new release joins the rank of the CDs that I personally regard as the best crop, therefore I'm doubly challenged when it comes to them.
Trimonium was a virtually unknown name to me when I received the advice of listening to "Son of a Blizzard", but the eponymous opening track definitely won my attention. It's a sure-killer: the first riff is a convincing introduction that sets the mood, and the second kicks in an almost explosive way. The blast beats run wild, the thrashy attitude is displayed with gusto, and the strikingly appropriate choice of sounds and production are additional pleasant surprises. It's one of the most powerful openings I've heard in recent times, and by far one of the most beautiful in my whole listening experience.
That remains apparent in the following tracks: the songwriting remains oriented to an intelligent use of speed, without the abuse of semi-grind drum patterns and excessive distortion typical of several (especially Swedish) bands. While keeping a coherent wall of sound through the quality riffing, the drums and bass help to convey an aural image of unstoppable, sheer power. The vocals recall Abbath's ones, with a lower growl and distinct pronounciation - a favourable point for my tastes, though they are obviously less adherent to the generic black metal screaming sound.
On a critic note, not all the tracks are as strong as the initial triad, while still being far above standard. Special mention deserves "A Sign in the Sky", whose chorus is an anthemic and catchy reminescence of Immortal and a more "epic" approach to black metal.
Lyrically, the whole album is devoted to war aesthetics and the celebration of warriors' traits such as courage, loyalty, and victory; nothing incredibly innovating or refreshing, yet still well-thought, coherent and well-written.
All these elements may lead into thinking Trimonium are a clone of Immortal, and while it's obvious they draw much from the more-known Norwegian act, they actually put several "custom signatures" into the riffing structures and drum beats. The result is an album that isn't strictly rooted into thrash or black metal, and the single tracks never sound like something that has been heard one time too much before.
In this respect, Trimonium follow a pattern I saw in many German acts (I think of Zarathustra): though looking at black metal from different perspectives, they have a consistency in creating harmonic and pleasurable songwriting without sacrificing speed and power. In this particular case, the effort is commendable and the album an astoundingly good listen even in consecutive plays.
Highly recommended.
Immortal meets Pagan Metal?! - 80%
Trimonium is a small black metal band hailing from Germany. I picked up the CD as a random buy never having heard of the band before and it is has been one of my better buys this year. Not defining themselves in any certain metal style while using some interesting structures makes this a pretty refreshing album (labeled under black metal on most sites even though it isn't strictly this genre) that can be listened to a lot without getting tedious to listen to.
Trimonium use guitars, bass and drums to accompany the vocals, leaving out keyboards or folk instruments unlike most other pagan bands. At the core of the music is something similar to Hammerheart era Bathory, yet it differentiates itself from Bathory as well by being more fully produced and less varied in tempo and song length. The only song to give a somewhat Viking or pagan feel (disregarding lyrics, which are all about the kind of things like battle, death, perseverance, and strength) is the intro song Mirrors Hall, which is cool because it is played entirely on old folk instruments of Europe, rather than using modern synths to replicate the sounds.
The music itself is true the faster and a bit thrashy side of black metal. tremolo picked riffs are in abundance here, often harmonized and there are also a lot of fast palm muted power chord riffs to go along with the music. The chord progressions in the music are pretty interesting, enough so that you at least know that the songs don't just use the same two chord progression under every song like some bands do. There is also plenty of rhythmic variation, usually a song will start in sixteenth notes, and then will move into a bridge section that has a triplet rhythm to it, giving a small sense of there being a small song (the mid-section or bridge) within some songs on this album.
Drums are also surprisingly well produced for a relatively small band like Trimonium. The bass drum has a big beefy sound. the toms are easy to hear, and the snare is also tuned well so that it doesn't get annoying in the mix. The most difficult thing to appreciate about this album are the vocals. usually harsh, they are pretty close to what Abbath sounded like on later Immortal CDs. Pretty much a low growl that isn't too aggressive, but it is damn powerful which makes up for the lack of the up front aggression that a band like Endstille delivers. he vocals grow on you, give the album one whole listen and then let it rest for a few days before coming back to it. It will sound better than you remember (this was at least my case).
The songs themselves are generally very steady in quality. No filler riffs, no uber-repitition, nothing really obviously bad. Songs have the speed and feel to make for a good handbanging album, but they are also sometimes very epic in how they build up and can be easily enjoyed if you just want to sit ,listen, and absorb the music. One of the better albums of 2007, nicely breaking the trend of most "pagan/folk" black metal that I've heard. Also a good metal album in general, I can picture of fans many sub-genres like Thrash, Black, and even Melodic Death Metal enjoying this album. It features a nice blend of styles, which is it's core strength.
Recommended Tracks:
Son of a Blizzard
The Wisdom of the Crying Stones
Choose the Weapon

Teutonnic - vocals guitars
Blaze - bass
Helltrasher - drums
Dolch - guitars