Vikings S03 (2015)

Their fans have long known that the 20 year music business veteran vikings of Månegarm are not afraid of developing their melodic pagan sound further. With their latest, self-titled album the band keeps true to course: Månegarm remains expressive and varied from the first note to the last. Once again the band around singer Erik Grawsiö shows just how much wicked fun powerful music can be. From Swedish folk ballads reminiscent of camp fires to wild and forceful black metal interludes, everything the metal sounds of the north are known for is represented. Those looking for the soundtrack to life as a seafaring warrior will get just the thing. And anyone remaining to be convinced will finally receive certainty: Odin owns ye all! Limited Editon Digipak incl. 2 Bonus Tracks ( “Mother Earth Father Thunder” featuring Jennie Tebler - sister of Quorthon/Bathory, Alan Nemtheanga (Primordial) & Mikael (Ereb Altor) )

The early opera of Antonín Dvorák recorded here definitely falls into the historical oddity category. It's in German, not Czech, set to a libretto by a poet long dead by 1870, when the work was composed, and it is unknown why Dvorák would have undertaken such a sizable project. The subject is a British king, Alfred the Great, who also inspired the opera by Thomas Arne that contains Rule, Brittania, and even shows up in the Vikings television miniseries.