Warthur The final entry in Rebellion's History of the Vikings trilogy turns its attentions to Viking mythology. This isn't exactly unexplored subject matter as far as metal goes, and on the whole I think Rebellion made the right call in saving it for the third album in the sequence: having covered historical tales of the Vikings' exploits at sea and on land in the previous two albums gives valuable context to the exploration of the Ragnarok myths presented here because it presents those legends as part of the culture of a real people with a genuine history which is much more diverse than the "seafaring raiders with horned helments" cartoon view of Vikings most of us have.

In terms of the actual music, it's another solid album in Rebellion's customary hard-edged low-cheese power metal style; if you've already heard the first two albums in the series, you know exactly what to expect here and they keep things fresh enough to make "more of the same" something to look forward to. Although I don't think any albums in the trilogy ascend to full-on classic status, I think the level of consistency Rebellion show over the course of the series has been impressive and I'll certainly be exploring more of their work.

adg211288 Arise: From Ginnungagap to Ragnarök - The History of the Vikings Volume III (henceforth referred to as just ‘Arise’) is the fifth full-length album by German power metal band Rebellion, and the third and final part of their trilogy on concept albums about the Vikings. Lyrically this one deals with, as the title suggests, Viking legend from Ginnungagap (meaning ‘yawning abyss’ and referring to Norse mythology’s belief of a vast primordial void that existed prior to the current universe) to Ragnarök (The final destiny of the Norse Gods). But enough of the Norse mythology lesson, you want to know about the music right?

There is a noticeable difference in Rebellion’s sound on this album, it’s still power metal and it still sounds very much like the band that made their previous albums, it sounds much more aggressive in its delivery, especially in Michael Seifert’s vocals. While Seifert is actually very capable of being a melodic singer his singing style has always had a somewhat rougher tone to it which sets him apart from many other power metal vocalists to me, but here he’s taken things up a notch even from their previous album Miklagard. The results work really well, especially because he doesn’t sing this extremely all the way through the album. When I say his vocals are rougher I don’t mean he’s doing growls either, but neither can it generally be referred to as clean singing. If there is such a thing as extreme power metal then this is it. The music behind the vocals has some tendencies to be heavier on some of the tracks than on previous releases, though it’s still melodic, which is what in a way still makes Arise a power metal album, because with it being on the extreme end of power metal this could perhaps be seen as Rebellion going in a more thrash or speed metal direction.

Highlights from this collection of twelve songs starting appearing right from the off with the excellent War, which is followed by the slightly slower Arise, which features a nice piano intro, fantastic lyrics and some nice vocal variety from Seifert. These two songs set the standard for what is an absolutely excellent album – great songs, awesome vocals and extremely solid musicianship from Uwe Lulis (guitar), Simone Wenzel (guitar), Tomi Göttlich (bass) and Gerd Lücking (drums). In my opinion Arise is easily Rebellion’s second best release, since overall I prefer the previous album, Miklagard to this one but both are easily worth recognition of pure masterpieces of power metal. There is no bad moment on Arise and each track can be considered a highlight in its own right, from the more extreme types such as Asgard and Bolverk to the more melodic such as Runes or the two more lengthy tracks Thor and Einherjar. Really great stuff.

Because this isn’t your typical power metal album, fans of the genre who are into more melodic keyboard driven or symphonic power metal bands may not find Arise or the band in general to their liking. Fans of the more guitar driven US styled power metal should lap this one up though, as should metal fans with a wide range of tastes. It is along with its predecessor Miklagard an album that every self-respecting metal fan owes it to themselves to at least check out.

(Review originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)