Elvenking
The Winter Wake
Candlelight
Is there a luthier in the house
From Skyclad to My Dying Bride to Mama’s Boys (remember them?), plenty of metal bands have tried to incorporate violin over the years, with varying degrees of success. When it comes to folk-oriented metal, a band reeling off cheesy Celtic melodies on string synth often works well (Gary Moore’s “Over the Hills and Far Away,” for instance), but a real violin often adds a limp-wristed, Ren Faire quality that’s more cringe-inducing than enjoyable.
Nevertheless, Italian folk-metal dudes Elvenking continue to give the kids their fix of headbanging jigs on their third album, a tightly executed effort that alternates between gleeful bombast and acoustic self-indulgence. At its best, The Winter Wake is solid power metal, with the band as adept at galloping sing-alongs as Hammerfall and Rhapsody. Jaunty numbers like “Trows Kind,” “Swallowtail” and the surprisingly Lullacry-like title track ably deliver the cornball thrills, singer Damnagoras sounding satisfactory (though lacking the range of a Tony Kakko) and Aydan carrying the bulk of the load with his staccato guitar work. But Elyghen’s violin is often distracting during the heavier tracks, the oil-and-water mix of electric and acoustic lacking cohesion, and he and his mates fail to convey any feeling whatsoever on the quieter songs, sounding like a Pogues tribute band who’s never had a drop of beer in their life. Still, we can be thankful they’re not as goofy as the Great Kat. —Adrien Begrand
