Einheit Produktionen, 2007
Genre: Black Metal
Trimonium:
1. Blood League
Plagued:
2. Fire Still Burns
Side Plagued: ...coming eventually...
Side Trimonium:
After a successful release with their new full-length Trimonium returned to the studio later that year to record this one off track for the split. This is a split picture 7" limited to 500 hand-numbered copies and I own #257. It comes with a lyric insert and that's about it.
Trimonium's song sounds like it could have easily been off the album "Son of a Blizzard", which should come as no surprise. There is an interesting moment that has a bit of an off-beat feel with a more staccato guitar style, which gives it this strange jerky feel. It's very unusual in a Trimonium song, but they make it work pretty well. So, if you just couldn't get enough Trimonium from their last album, check out the new song!
Sadly, this is the last material we'd hear from the project. When "Son of a Blizzard" came out I thought the project would become more active and was looking for a slew of new albums. Quite a bit time went by and the project was silent and according to their Facebook page it looked like new material would be coming, but in 2016 the project was put to rest. I think this is unfortunate and I will miss the band, but I'm happy we were able to get "Son of a Blizzard" out of this effort. I still listen to that album to this day.
Einheit Produktionen, 2007
Genre: Black Metal
1. Mirrors Hall
2. Son of a Blizzard
3. The Wisdom of the Crying Stones
4. Return from the Battle
5. Choose the Weapon
6. My Blood for Yours
7. A Sign in the Sky
8. Waste of Blood
It's been quite a while since we've heard from Trimonium and, I hard started to think that the project might no longer be active. Then all of a sudden they're working with a new label and a new album was upon us. I was very excited because I really enjoyed the prior two albums quite a bit. The big difference with this CD is that they went the full booklet approach with printed lyrics and everything. Unfortunately, you can barely read any of them because of the way the font wound up being printed. I wonder if it was supposed to look more like the track titles on the back panel, which you can read quite well, but inside the booklet things didn't print well at all. It sucks, because this was the first time they published their lyrics and we're thwarted by poor printing.
If you've been following the Trimonium releases up until now then you know what to expect from "Son of a Blizzard". It's not a huge jump from the prior releases, but there's something about "Son of a Blizzard" that feels a lot more refined. It doesn't sound heavily modernized or anything, but the writing has just improved and the riffs are so spectacular all around that it really stands out amidst their discography. "Son of a Blizzard" is probably my favorite album from the project as they've managed to take their songwriting to even new heights, which is amazing, because I already thought "Blow the Horns" was an excellent journey. They've definitely advanced that Thrashy style of Black Metal that Desaster uses in their foundation and then they blacken it up even more. The end results is this wonderfully epic and ancient feeling riffing.
So, if you're looking for some excellent German Black Metal you really can't go wrong with Trimonium's new album. It's probably the finest in their discography and I highly recommend picking it up. I'm looking forward, even more than before, about future releases from this project!
Folter Records, 2003
Genre: Black Metal
1. Blow the Horns
2. Banner of Fortress
3. Battle-Axe Destruction
4. Of False Friends
5. Forwards to Eternal Glory
6. Forgotten Heroes
7. In Darkness I Grow
8. The Burning Witchhammer
9. Outro
Trimonium return with the follow-up to their great debut and "Blow the Horns" only further solidifies them as one of the greats from Germany. Once again they work with Folter Records to put this out and since I follow everything Folter does I got into Trimonium pretty early on. The album layout and design on the CD booklet is simple and straight forward. There aren't any lyrics in the booklet and just a few informational pages with a band pic.
"Blow the Horns" kind of reminds me a lot of the medieval riffing we'd find on a Desaster album, but cast even more in a Black Metal style. "Blow the Horns" is filled with that triumphant and heroic riffing style of the previous album, but the songs feel more well composed. They flow even better than before and seem more thought out in general. I didn't even think they needed to improve on their core ideas that much and yet they did. The title track includes some very interesting high register riffing that gives the music an even more epic feel. As with the past releases, I'm not too big on the vocals. On this album he kid of reminds me of Barbarud Hrom from Maniac Butcher to a degree, only Barbarud fits a bit better with Maniac Butcher and his vocal tone doesn't fit so much in Trimonium. It's really the only complaint I can muster up, because this has been album I listen to off and on even still many years after it was released.
"Blow the Horns" is a superb album and if you like majestic and heroic riffing then this is the band for you. Trimonium is one of the top German Black Metal bands in the early 2000's as far as I'm concerned. I remember listening to their albums over and over because they were simply that good when they came out.
Folter Records, 2001
Genre: Black Metal
1. Black Mark
2. The Battue
3. Dolch
4. When the Ravens Fly
5. Gebote des Sieges
6. Rape My Soul
7. The Prophecy of the Gyula
After a single demo Folter Records wasted no time in picking up Trimonium and after hearing this album I can absolutely understand why. In just a short amount of time Trimonium have refined their sound and really enhanced the more interesting aspects of their music to give a fairly unique and interesting sounding album.
If I had to put a comparison together I think Trimonium manage to sound like a blend of Kampfar and Desaster. They have a lot of soaring epic feeling riffs, but they also have this Thrash edge at times, but it's not prominent enough to become Black/Thrash. "Of Warriors and Heroism" definitely has a rather "heroic" feel to the music, but without getting overly cheesy into the realms of Power Metal. No, Trimonium stay fastly rooted in the realms of Black Metal, so even though they have that epic and triumphant riffing, it's still largely present in a far darker fashion. The blasting drums and fairly raw recording quality give it a really interesting feel as well.
If you're looking for a band that plays a fairly interesting blend in Black Metal then this debut album is what you're looking for. It as really great and interesting riffs throughout the album, which somehow manages to feel traditional, but not at the same time. It's very well composed and I really look forward to hearing what Trimonium might have in store for us in the future.
Self Released, 2000
Genre: Black Metal
1. Fight for the Clan
2. Trimonium
3. Hass in Mir
4. The Path through the Northern Lands
5. Immortal Visions
"Fight for the Clan" is Trimonium's demo tape and it's pretty much everything you expect from a cassette demo. It has a xeroxed booklet that does fold out into multiple panels, but the paper is only single sided. I'm sure this tape is limited to some amount, but no limitations were listed. They were probably making tapes on an "as needed" basis. Either way, this is not a pro-format demo tape or anything.
The recording quality is not very good, but you can hear everything relatively speaking at least. This demo kicks off with "Fight for the Clan" where the band hits open chords while the drummer does some crazy drum sequences. It sounded cool...but when the drummer finished they kept hitting open chords and really killed the feel. This wait was far too long between hitting play and when the song actually kicked off. With the vocalist's cry of "Fight for the Clan" we really begin this demo. I really love Trimonium's guitar lines they sound epic and traditional, but still pure Black Metal at the same time. I don't know why but their music may have a slightly different feel than a lot of other bands out there. This is great for Germany, because Germany has been composing some real top notch Black Metal as of late.
The mix isn't so great and the drums are a little too loud. The vocals are actually very quiet compared to everything else, so it's tough to discuss those. The guitars are just loud enough to hear the kind of melodic styled riffing Trimonium is known for. I have no idea why this feels different, because it clearly isn't breaking all that much new ground... maybe it will be more clear with some studio work.
This certainly isn't the worst demo out there, but nor is it the best. "Fight for the Clan" isn't a bad introduction, some of the riffs are great, but as far as demos go it's really just okay. Either way the songs have generally all the same feel and it's different enough to make it quite interesting. I can see why they got picked up very quickly after putting this demo together.
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