VIKING QUEEN – Hail To The King (2023)
Borrowing Queensryche’s logo but musically quite different, “Hail To The King” is the new album from Norwegian band VIKING QUEEN. This five-piece plays classic metal / hard rock with a strong sound reminscent of the first half of the ’80s Scandinavian Metal; the twin guitar attack, Nordic mythology, the epic iconography. All is here, but served fresh avoiding cliches or cheese.
With no frills, Viking Queen is just powerhouse traditional heavy metal / hard rock glinting with steely delight and responsible for thunder claps everywhere. There are no trends here, just good old fashioned fist pumping anthems by the drove, and all led by the commanding vocals of Francis Lecquian who assembled his merry band to march across fens, moors and mountains armed with guitars that act as shields, and drums that boom throughout the ashen sky.
How wonderful it is to behold such gimmick-free metal as opener ‘Fight For Glory’ casts great shadows on the horizon like a magnificent black horse mounted by a steel rider. These are the sorts of images that Viking Queen conjures up and it’s far from being cheese-ridden power metal. There is an unintentional level of early ’80s gloom present throughout this organic thunder n’ roll as great strides are made with each booming instrument.
The twin axe attack of Robert Hoffstæter and Andreas Willhelmsen are the driving force behind this opus where thick rumbling riffs enable prime cuts such as the midpaced hard rocker ‘Shadowhunter’ (quite melodic) and ‘Berzerk’ to stand out from the crowds, especially when the leads fizz through.
Coupling monolithic melody with bombastic power plays, the album ploughs great furrows as Izzy Prat’s drums lay down concrete foundations for the brilliant catchy (almost a ‘melodic’ hard rocker) ‘Freedom Is Illusion’, the soaring ‘Valhalla Can Wait’ and the slow burning ‘Flight Of The Valkyries’.
The band add some doom-ness on ‘Punishment’ and ‘Gods And Visions’ which does not work too well for them – we prefer their hard rock side / melodic metal attack of the other tracks.
Just check the fleeting yet fiery ‘Attitude’, a short but electrifying rock n’ roller of a track which is a fine example of the band’s ability to strip things back and knuckle down to some swagger. The title track is another melodic, anthemic melodic metal track with an arena spirit.
Norwegian VIKING QUEEN are keeping the classic Scandinavian Metal flame alive with ‘Hail To The King’. While the band seems still looking for a definitive sound – this album mostly blends traditional hard rock / melodic metal – there’s couple of doomy tracks > they definitively are very, very good at the former.
Highly Recommended
01 – Fight For Glory
02 – Punishment
03 – Freedom Is Illusion
04 – Shadowhunter
05 – Attitude
06 – Valhalla Can Wait
07 – Berzerk
08 – Gods And Visions
09 – Flight Of The Valkyries
10 – Hail To The King
Francis Lecquian – Vocals
Robert Hoffstæter – Guitars
Andreas Willhelmsen – Guitars
Roy Såndaker – Bass
Izzy Prat – Drums
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