RUNESPELL (OZ) – ‘Sentinels of Time’ MCD

This is all not to suggest that mainman Nightwolf is hasty or careless with his creations; rather, the RUNESPELL aesthetic is so etched in iron, so forged in blood, that this mystical & mesmerizing soundworld takes on its own life. And so it goes with the brand-new mini-album Sentinels of Time. Serving as something of a companion to the monolithic ‘n’ majestic Verses in Regicide, Sentinels of Time is every inch as epic and engrossing as its predecessor. Two of the mini’s tracks easily top 10 minutes, with another just over eight minutes; and while those luxurious-yet-portentous waves of blood/fire/death undulate and crash with the same RUNESPELL’d intensity and immensity, one could argue that Verses in Regicide sees Nightwolf in a slightly more solemn mood. But, all the same, the steel is sharper than ever and wielded like that of a master, reaching a crescendo of battlefury with that aforementioned eight-minute title track, at last concluding with eerily beautiful instrumental lament “A Drakkar’s Last Journey.”