INGRIMM - Todgeweiht

11 songs
44:32 minutes
****
Black Bards

Bandpage

Ingrimm is an old medieval word for anger, revealing instantly the same-named band’s musical orientation. On the one hand, they are strongly rooted in medieval metal, and some parallels to pioneer bands like In Extremo and Subway To Sally cannot be dismissed. On the other hand, their performance has more rancour which should appeal to fans of brutal metal.

After Ihr sollt brennen, Todgeweiht is the band’s second album. The musicians combine modern electric instruments with folk instruments like bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, flutes and bells. Most songs follow similar structures. The verses are mostly quite raw, the choruses counterpoint with nice and catchy melodies. The pace varies from song to song, but tension never really arises. The lyrics are exclusively in German, but the rough vocal delivery is not always convincing and not differentiated enough. Some tracks like Krieger and Sündig Fleisch offer short excursions into black metal territory, other ones like Todgeweiht and Rot even contain industrial elements. The transitions from the melodic to the aggressive parts are often too abrupt, which disturbs quite a lot. Their ballad Der Stern also fails to convince.

When it comes to folk metal, Germany can’t point to the two aforementioned bands forever. Newcomers deserve a chance too. Ingrimm aren’t ready yet for the top league, so that you might as well check out more promising talents like for instance Nachtgeschrei.