Cygnus Rock Band - Hermanns Viking Dauđi (Fire and Tales)

I admit to you, dear Reader, I'm hesitating now about what to write in this review and what not, since this song is practically "Death of a Viking Warrior" that was released in 2019 on "Yggdrasil", Cygnus's very 1st Viking album. I'm hesitating because I would like to tell, analyze and reveal my thoughts most of all about the original song and I want to wait with it until I start to talk about the first album itself. Yet the thing is, this song has differences compared to the 2019 version and it's not just the fact that this one was released in Old Norse language.

Nevertheless I try my very best now not to make spoilers for the original song while trying to say my thoughts on this one.

First of all, this song was (is) supposed to be a hidden track. 

I'm sure some of you out there still remember those times when you bought a CD and when you put it into the player, you could see that there was one more track on it than it was originally labelled on the CD's cover. Every time it was some surprise - sometimes a short interlude or an outro or in some cases some antics of the members in the studio. Sometimes it was an extra song or a version of a song. Every time it was very exciting to find out what the band or artist had for us hiding behind the official tracks.

With a cassette it was even more interesting and exciting. Since a cassette player is unable to track and display the number of songs, it really did happen a few times that some of us actually hadn't discovered the hidden track until they bought the album later on CD. It even happened with me as well back in the 90's with a cassette of a (most probably) local band. For quite a while I stopped the player after the official last track and fast forwarded the tape til the end. Then once, out of mere laziness I decided to leave it on play until it reaches the end of the tape and for my greatest surprise after the last track there was a hidden one - if I remember well, a local folk song performed with rock/metal instruments, the members clearly enjoying it and laughing it off. From that moment on I always left every cassette on play to find out whether there was any hidden track on it, and the truth is, quite a few times I had a very pleasant surprise.

The truth is that I would LOVE this song to be a real, actual, physical hidden track. Because that would mean I can actually hold Cygnus's music in my hand on a CD (or gods' forbid, on a cassette). I don't even care how much it's not trendy today to have physical music players and audio storage devices (cassettes, CD's, vinyl) anymore. It's my secret dream and I'm not willing to give up on it. 

Not to mention the fact that the quality of a CD or a cassette is still a million times better than the highest quality .wav files.

But let's keep ourselves to the subject.

Beside the aforementioned difference in the lyrics' language there's one more thing that makes this version special and that is being the metal version of "Death of a Viking Warrior". It starts the similar way as the original with Ruxx's (now old Norse) vocals, but right at the very first chorus the guitars hit the listener right on the stomach. This way it's monumental and full of majesty, the original song's message is much heavier present (for my ears) than on "Yggdrasil".

I especially love how the tiny but aetheral sound of the tiple is leading the heavy, "beast-of-burden" sounding guitars.

This continues in the 2nd stanza. The musical theme is dark and sublime, the guitars and the rhythm section make the originally quieter ballad into a majestic hymn.

The solo is just like the song itself. Simple but magnificent, practically the song's theme itself, but interpreted in a very delicate way that deeply touches the listener.

And then comes the catharsis. The solo was just an opening to it, even though it's the masterpiece of simplicity in itself. But then, dear listener, then comes the chorus once again.

Prepare yourself for goosebumps and tears in your eyes.

A choir of Viking warriors mourning the loss of their fellow brother-in-arms. Deep, divine, powerful and manly in a heart-shaking way.

Not that kind of manly that brings heart-throbbing to the female listener - though that's possible as well -, but rather that which can be found in Tolkien's works. Men who die for each other, who cry for each other, long for each other, hug each other, call each other "my dear friend", who have morals, who respect women and all this without being ambiguous and without anything that would cease them to be considered MEN.

And all this in the mighty company of the guitars and the symphonic orchestra.

Beautiful.