The life of a viking as we know it in the world of metal is more than any one style can encompass properly most of the time. Sure, bands like Amon Amarth have managed to confine vikings to a single style, but it doesn’t bring the warriors back to life as much as they could be. It’s bands that transcend genre boundaries like Battlesoul that make the warriors so much more three dimensional through material that’s not only engaging and complex but an absolute joy to boot.

Bringing together folk, melodic death, and power metal is a very volatile cocktail that can easily blow back into your face if you don’t give such a formula the delicate care that’s required in order to make something good out of it. Whispered is a great example of such as they’ve honed their craft over the course of three full-length albums, but they deal with samurais and Battlesoul deals with the bloodthirsty vikings! To say that their upcoming record of “Sunward and Starward” is the perfect amalgamation of the aforementioned styles into a cohesive experience that’s both organic and tasteful would be a clear understatement. In just about every aspect, “Sunward and Starward” is a record that brings in every single aspect of the viking culture that many of us have come to adore be it from the battles that rain blood to the explorations across the dark horizons. It’s not easy to make such a thing as entertaining and exciting as what Battlesoul has done here, but this group has done a seemingly immaculate job at doing just that! Each track of this record shows an unparalleled amount of musicianship that Battlesoul undoubtedly possesses in spades, and it makes for a gripping record that only gets better as you go along!

Bringing folk metal to bigger and better heights has always been a treat that I can never get enough of, and Battlesoul has done it in a way that we simply don’t see enough of anymore. “Sunward and Starward” is a terrific piece that comes together so incredibly well that once you hear it once you’ll want to experience it again and again, and I can only see this band getting better with time with how immaculate this record is compared to previous efforts which weren’t exactly pushovers.

PRE-ORDER “Sunward and Starward” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Battlesoul on Facebook here.