MORRIGAN Anwynn LP BLACK

Sadly, the MORRIGAN camp has been quiet since the release of 2013's Diananns Whisper; only a far-too-short split with fellow Germans Blizzard came the following year. At last, they emerge from darkness and doubt with the surprise full-length Anwynn. The years have been kind to MORRIGAN: not only do they sound utterly invigorated with their solemn, hymnic pagan metal, but the rest of the wider underground has perhaps caught up with how far ahead they were in looking back, now able to appreciate the immensity and poignancy of MORRIGAN in their prime. Indeed, Annwyn is arguably the band at their peak of their powers; from beginning to end, the album magickally reminds of Bathory's Viking era AND immeasurably adds to it, whisking the listener far away to forgotten realms and high adventure. "Epic" almost seems too cliche of a word to describe the thick-yet-spacious landscape MORRIGAN unfurl here - ominously rippling chords layered mountain-high, the subtle swell of mystical synth and various battle-oriented sound FX, the measured-yet-regal gait of everything, all of it simply HUGE - but it's pretty much the (mayhemic) truth. As ever, the impassioned voice of founder Beliar imparts a blanching intensity to everything, the man imperfectly pouring his heart out with his clean tenor, but still equally able to utilize a blackened rasp for dramatic effect. Likewise, tempos occasionally dip into (dramatic) blasts, again expanding upon hints hidden within the Viking Bathory paradigm. All told, Anwynn is 53 minutes of classic MORRIGAN: no more and no less, and nothing else needed!