Ryghär – Thurmecia Eternal Review

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Band names do deceive. I keep saying that and I will say it for a longer time. I got this Ryghär “Thurmecia Eternal” as being a Black Metal effort. Of course, that was my initial thought because of the nordicish name of the band. I didn’t have a look at the cover. For my surprise when I played it in my player I ran into a majestic Epic Heavy Metal band as Manila Road, Desolation Angels or even Cirith Ungol. The album has some kind of charm because the impression it gets is that it sounds as if it were poor producted. “Thurmecia Eternal” has the perfect taste of 1980s albums that were poorly produced or poorly performed, however it is none of them. Above all things this the impression that gives all the charm and attraction to the album.

I’ve gotta say that the things that attracted me the most to “Thurmecia Eternal” were the moods Ryghär built. They change a lot through the album. The guitars and occasional keyboardings do help a lot in that. Perhaps the impression of being poorly produced is due to the guitars that sound a bit lower that the rest of the instruments or the vocals. However, the solos are perfectly audible. Also, Ryghär were very happy in including some soundscapes in the middle of the tracks or as intros to them. To my dear fan understand better it’s something like Black Sabbath used to do in some albums as “Born Again” plus the aforementioned keyboards parts. The impression that the album is poorly played maybe comes from some decisions the band made in some tracks as “In a Land Where the Sun Never Sleeps” where the 1960’s The Dooresque keyboards sounds a bit off. Not the tunes, but the tone.

I had really a hard time in trying to write this review. Yesterday I stood all afternoon and part of the night wondering what I should write and nothing came to my mind. Perhaps I got too excited about the music here in “Thurmecia Eternal.” Really, I listend to it I guess four or five times to something finally occur and being able to write some words. The music in the album isn’t that common in terms of Metal music. Hardly ever I’ve run into them here in those five years. But I did like what I had. The guitar work is pretty neat with them making interventions all the time which something I really love; the very personal vocals, another that I do respect and the songwriting. This is a debut album that promises a lot, my dear fans.

P.S.: Never mind the enormous song tittles.

Ryghär “Thurmecia Eternal” will be released on September 23rd via Rafchild Records.

Track Listing:

  1. A Castle, a Still Lake, a Forest, And a Valley Deep
  2. Cair Vasturhaf: A Flaming Sunset on the Parapets of the King of the Western Sea
  3. A Desperate Plan on the Field of Battle
  4. We Make for the Deeping Pass
  5. A Baleful Wind Cries Above the Ziggurat Esoternium
  6. Temple of the Crystal Spire
  7. Hammers in the Halls of the Deep
  8. In a Land Where the Sun Never Sleeps
  9. The Witching Blade

Watch “A Baleful Wind Cries Above the Ziggurat Esoternium” official lyric video: