By Melissa Andrews
On first listen, this album gave me visions of using it as a soundtrack to a documentary about people who are into epic fantasy role-playing. I can see the hordes of costumed Lord of the Rings fans clashing their replica swords on a battlefield to win the princesses hand.
Nibelung is the fourth album by the Austrian band Siegfried. Each of the band’s albums is based on different aspects and characters of the Germanic/Norse myth of Nibelung. The story has been told in the different forms such as film and Opera, so it makes perfect sense as the topic basis of a metal band.
With the theme of clashing in Northern Europe by good and evil there is a lot of potential for some ridiculous sounding music. Siegfried ended up making an album that may not be an epic masterpiece but it still can be enjoyed for repeated listens. The album is sung entirely in German so unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on what they are) I can’t understand most of the lyrics. I am still however able to hear the torment in characters voices as they go through their trials. Each singer takes the role singing one of the character parts, which contributes to the feeling of story telling.
The orchestration is kept to a tasteful minimum and only used to enhance the song and not overdone in a way that is so common in this type of music. While this type of concept album has a limited following there is definitely something here for fans of this type of symphonic inspired metal.
(Napalm Records)
Rating: 7.0
