Review by Jack on September 12, 2001.

Viking metal from Scandinavia?! Now there is a surprise. Thyrfing write epic, black-ish tinged, medieval ridden metal in both their native language and English. They’re a standard six-member heavy metal band (vocals, 2x guitars, bass, drums and synths) who from their band photos really get into the Viking, historical side of their namesake. Dwarfs, swords, Odin and travelling in big boats is the norm for these blokes. But traversing through Viking metal they do with real ‘oomph‘ (‘oomph’ is good, it means grunt).

I’m actually rather loathe to classify Thyrfing as ‘Viking’ metal and would prefer them deemed more medieval in stature (barring the lyrics and song topics), because the music by these lads instantly conjures up thoughts of taverns and bards playing their lutes, surrounding by brave knights and their not-so brave squires. Regardless of what location of primitive life you thrust Thyrfing’s “Urkraft” in, make sure do take the time to check ‘em out.

Thryfing’s music prowess resides heavily in black metal, steeped with 80’s guitar work and perhaps slightly (only, ever so slightly) overdone synthesizer work from Peter Löf. Thomas Väänänen’s vocals strongly hold this medieval metal masterpiece together. His deep bellow reminds a great deal of Johan Hegg’s infamous roars courtesy of Amon Amarth. For the first time, clean singing has been effectively utilised by Thomas Väänänen and to a great effect (I mean what black outfit doesn’t use clean vocals?), sounding something like an Athera (Susperia), an ICS Vortex (Dimmu-Borgir) and perhaps slightly King Diamond-esque, but possessing something unique of his own.

Song structure on “Urkraft” ranges from your average terror driven 4-5 minute black blast, to nice flowing short acoustic instrumentals that Opeth or Bathory would be proud of. Throw in for good measure 2 or 3 epic 7-8 minute Viking mammoth songs and top it off with a cover Gary Moore’s ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ and you have a very solid third release from Thryfing.

Bottom Line: Thyrfing are a tight unit of barbarous heathens who swing their axes with unrivalled brutality and melody. “Urkraft”, likewise is just as tight as their musicianship, which is indeed a good thing. Nothing sorely lacking on this third opus from Thyrfing.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Adam M on March 21, 2017.

Power Trip performs a relatively powerful form of thrash metal.  They bring the raw caustic riffs to rival the best of Kreator.  This style is somewhat one dimensional and brings a more hardcore vibe to the mix.  However, this isn’t completely what Power Trip delves in, but only partially.  There is a smoother sound to the riffs here if one looks beneath the surface.  The entirety of the album adds up to some fairly compelling thrash for the masses.  The rough aspects of the band are on top of the music and bring about a headbanging nature.  They also make for the most prominent portion of the mix that is stronger on the surface. 

There is a tough aspect to the band that makes them sort of more similar to Slayer at times.  This can be seen from the guitar riffs in particularly.  Instrumentally, the album is very solid.  The evil guitar riffs lead the way in fine fashion.  Under that is a drum job that nicely complements the music.  Add in the occasional solo and one can detect a lot from the instruments.  They make the songs glide by at a quick rate.  The problem with this album is that it sounds a little bit generic.  There are plenty of nice guitar riffs, but they start to sound much the same after a while.  This detracts slightly from the album and prevents it from being outstanding.  There is still enough fantastic riff work to occupy a large portion of your time to be found here.  

There is lots of energy and passion to be found in these songs and it sticks out to the listener.  Fans of the thrash genre should find something to like with Nightmare Logic.  It will make your very greatest dreams come true in fine fashion. 

Rating: 7.3 out of 10