### Adorned Brood: Noor

#### 02/06/09 || Euthanatos

I’m pretty certain I’ve listened to a bunch of albums by Adorned Brood. I’m also 100% sure I have no idea what they sounded like. That doesn’t exactly win many points for the band, eh? The odd thing is, even though their previous material hasn’t been memorable in my mind, “Noor” is a pretty fun, albeit fleeting, viking metal experience.

First of all, I really enjoy the way the vocals are handled on this album. Teutobot Frost and Ingeborg Anna (love those names, by the way) share the duties perfectly, Frost’s warrior chants being complemented by Anna’s bizarre shrieking and decent clean singing. There are also a lot of entertaining folk passages that really go well with the heavier aspects of the band. It was impossible not to think of Finntroll while listening to “Am Grunde des Merees”, whatever the hell that means. And, yes, that’s a good thing. If you don’t have fun while listening to Finntroll, you have a stone in your chest instead of a heart.

I often found myself tapping with my fingers along with the melodies, a pretty clear sign that this is an album that will please you even if you’re not entirely paying attention. Plus, Adorned Brood have a bag full of really solid, catchy riffs, pure fucking unadulterated metal. I hated the vocals in the title-track, though, so that’s a big no-no. Dani Filth impressions? Please. Differentiated moments like “Trollmelody” are also a big plus, I like more somber, ambient pieces to go along with the rest of the heavier tracks.

On the pantheon of norse-gods-worshipping-viking-battles-reenacting bands, Adorned Brood definitely makes a case here for climbing quite a few steps on the ladder. While not inherently brilliant, “Noor” is quite a good album to listen with a few friends having some mead and punching each other out. On the video game, of course, we can’t have people actually doing something physical on this day and age.

The cover: A viking ship, which naturally gets two thumbs up from me.

6 viking trolls with beards of cotton candy out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Black Bards Entertainment
- Website: www.adornedbrood.de
- Band
- Teutobot Frost: vocals, bass
- Ingeborg Anna: vocals, flute
- Mirko “Pagan” Klier: guitars
- Thorsten Riekel: guitars
- Tim Baumgärtel: drums, piano

- Tracklist
- 01. Intro
- 02. Storm
- 03. Am Grunde Des Meeres
- 04. Sons of the Damned
- 05. Noor
- 06. Adorned Brood
- 07. Schiff Der Toten
- 08. Trollmelody
- 09. Under Yggdrasil
- 10. Drunken Sailor