Nostalgia in viking disguise

Viking Crown - Contemplating the pitch back (mp3)
Viking Crown's MySpace page
I have to admit - I feel kind of childish, when I start to think, how much time I spend to black metal. But at least I'm not so childish, that I could get into viking metal (then again, Bathory's "Hammerheart" is an excellent work, but then suddenly some bands began to take it too seriously and things went very wrong). When I first heard about Viking Crown, I was quite suspicious. I didn't know exactly what to expect, so I managed to overcome my prejudice and I gave it a chance.
As it goes with each style of music, there are always some certain bands or artists, which later gain the fame of being taken as important predecessors. When it comes to black metal, one of those bands is Hellhammer, later known as Celtic Frost. My taste of music has always had sort of nostalgic value. It's a strange thing - old things always seem to be better. The leader of American trio Viking Crown was Phil Anselmo from Pantera. I'm surprised, because there isn't much connection with black metal here, you know. But it seems that Phil Anselmo is also very nostalgic about black metal. This song captures perfectly that sweet lost essence of old days, when some unknown trio called Hellhammer made history in cellar somewhere in Switserland. It's not an easy thing to achieve.