It is always a plus when listening to metal music makes me do some reading to discover historic facts I didn’t know heretofore. Newly formed (band or mini-project?) Crows over Brávellir derive their whole name from a semi-legendary battle between a large number of Swedish and Danish warriors sometime in the 8th century. As result of that battle some territories in Sweden and Denmark got unified under a common rule, one king died honorably and entered Valhalla and thousands lost their lives. Some historians say the battle never happened at all, and all of this is fodder for the sagas.

Whether the battle happened or not, Crows over Brávellir are probably more concerned about the quality of their music. The 2-track, yet almost 20 min long EP, is the presentation of epic stately doomdeath and can well serve as a soundtrack to the History channel Vikings if that series were looking for music with enough mysticism yet heavier. Spells of the Dead starts in a grand fashion and grows more martial. As a cross between Atlantean Codex and later on Norse death metal of Unleashed, tremolos and soloing pick up before tribal beat announces a proud wrap to the composition. Rough screams for vocals and thick production, with bass guitar strings being the size of those Viking forearms, are par for the course.

Into the Kingly Death has a 3 minutes of a dreamy Solstafir opening but it’s dreamier doomdeath eventually becomes more rough edged as well. From Scald to again Unleashed, the material is authentic Norse yet never brutal. Tremolos grow stronger again, tempo picks up, galloping downtuned guitar dominates but background vocals still gives a heroic flavor of battle long ago. Female Valkyries descend where emptiness begins to reign.

A good listen, Crows over Brávellir have members of Grave in it, so not sure whether the project will continue.