Equilibrium is a German "epic folk metal" band that has put out three albums so far. Each blends the sounds of symphonic, folk, and black metal with enough cinematic bombast and drama to rival Nightwish or Rhapsody of Fire. Unlike these bands, they contrast the oft-heroic sound of their music, which vacillates between many different genres of metal, with some evil (but cool)-sounding black metal-style vocals. (Nevermind the lyrics or song titles, which are all in German) This is undoubtedly one of the most epic albums in my entire collection; if pretty much anything I've reviewed on this blog resonates with you, definitely give it a look.
The intro/first song "Prolog auf Erden", like all good prologues, is a great introduction to what the album is about. A loud, dark, and mostly symphonic opening is overrun by a torrent of screams and frantic blast beats with the (synthesized) orchestra taking the background. A subsequent section features more folk instrumentation, including a fairly prominent jaw harp (the stereotypical "boing-boing" sound effect). It has a fairly unconventional structure; despite being only three and a half minutes long, like a Mastodon song it feels much longer, as most of the contents of Sagas do (and it's already as long as a Dream Theater album). This is due to the band's relative lack (or perhaps expert use) of repetition in their song structure in interesting ways that buck the standard verse-chorus-solo model.
Anyway, on to "Wurzelbert", my favorite track on the album and one that forms part of my gold standard for "epic" music. For all its orchestral swagger, Sagas is very riff-oriented at heart, and this song has two of the best which are different takes on the same chord progression: a tremolo-picked, stairlike ascending guitar pattern and "galloping" triplets with the full force of the drums and orchestra behind them. It's the epitome of the album's "big" sound, seeming like part of the soundtrack to a movie far too awesome (and high-budget) to ever exist. The verses, for a bit of counterpoint, have more audible folk instrumentation including some kind of accordion. The lyrics, falling just a bit short of the bar set by the music, are apparently about a "root-guy" who lives in the woods and kills animals and thrills audiences by playing his fiddle. (Luckily they're all in unintelligible German so you won't notice)
"Blut im Auge" has the same kind of epic, valorous appeal as "Wurzelbert", but hardly sounds repetitive because of the band's knack for writing heavy, yet catchy and memorable riffs. The highly major-key chorus, punctuated by more galloping triplets, is one of the most beautiful parts of the album. "Unbesiegt" begins with a keyboard/synthesized windpipes riff which is soon joined by more complicated, almost progressive riffs over copious blast beats. After the solo the keyboard riff comes back for a bit, accompanied by jungle(?) sound effects; I'm not sure why, but it sounds nice. It shows that Equilibrium is not just mindlessly heavy or "epic"; they put effort into writing songs that are surprisingly deep even as they are intensely enjoyable on the surface.
The next two songs diverge a bit from the themes introduces in the first four. "Verrat" is more dissonant-sounding, with a distinctively grinding riff that plays with a more traditional black metal sound, though the drumming seems to alternate between black metal and power metal. Overall it's one of the faster, darker songs, with a few gear changes to keep you on your toes as usual. "Snüffel" sounds more like power metal or even classic metal, particularly in the instrumental breakdown with a highly effective synchronized guitar riff which seems to be channeling '70s hard rock (or '00s retro rock like Wolfmother).
The album does slow down a bit after the first six songs, remaining exciting but losing their insane energy and distinctiveness (until the last song). "Heiderauche" is a quiet instrumental interlude consisting largely of a wind flute solo which sounds amazing. "Die Weide und der Fluß" and "Des Sängers Fluch" toy with more progressive metal at over 7 and 8 minutes in length, respectively; the latter channels a bit of Finntroll in a highly catchy melodic riff that comes in around the 5:30 mark, introduced on the pipes and accordion before being taken up by the guitarists to furious double-bass drumming.
But save your opinions for the last song, "Mana", a 16-minute epic of epics that musically surpasses everything else of the album in its size, scope, and intricacy. It feels almost like a bonus track in how over-the-top it is compared to the other songs, and the fact that the album would still clock in at over an hour without it. It's even an instrumental, so if the harsh vocals turned you off the rest of the album, listen away!
It's easy to find lots to praise Sagas about, and accordingly difficult to find fault with it. It would, of course, be even better if they could have employed a real orchestra rather than synthesizing the instruments, but not every band is Nightwish. Equilibrium's formula works best when the guitars are carrying the melody alongside the keyboards/folk instruments, as in "Wurzelbert", "Blut im Auge", or "Snüffel", rather than providing Nightwish-esque "heavy" texturing underneath them, which is part of why the second half of the album feels bogged-down. Nonetheless, Sagas is a metal masterpiece, one of the most epic albums in my collection, about as thrilling as a summer blockbuster, and definitely worth many repeat listens.
