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Thank you for alerting me about this band. I now have to go on a Skyforger hunt.

I've only heard the demo, Semigalls' Warchant and the only thing that stoped me from liking it was the vocals. They were so bad that it was funny. If they have a new vocalist i might check this one out but not if its the same dude.

These guys released two great metal albums (the first two), an awesome folk one and a very good demo, which was re-issued in 2005 with a couple fo new tracks (of course, the demo is much more appealing to me).

And since when did Metalreviews start reviewng NS bands? Local policy changed? Why might actually live to see a Burzum classic?

That's what i also asked to myself.. But i was too afraid to post the comment.

From the band itself, as posted on their forum
http://www.skyforger.lv/forums/index.ph ... 3457e761b2

Our intention with this statement is to clear out some possible
suspicions held by those people who don't know Skyforger as a band,
and who ask why we have a stylized swastika in the logo. We wanted
to present an official explanation to prevent misunderstanding.

First of all, Skyforger is not an Nazi band! The symbol used in our
logo has been called by many names throughout history, and represents
many different things to different cultures. It has special meaning to
Europeans who remember their pre-christian roots; and to Skyforger it
is the "Firecross" or "Thundercross" which represents Pērkons, the
Latvian god of Thunder. As we are a band who specialises in old pagan
tales and their mythology, we have used this symbol in our logo. It
was a magic sign for pagan tribes, and stood for general protection
against all evil.

Skyforger is not a political band in any way, and thus the Firecross
should not be associated with a political ideology when it appears in
the band's artwork. It should be associated only with the pagan
history and the ancient culture of Latvia.


Since of course you can understand Latvian and I can't there might be more to it in the texts than what I can get from the English translation, but I do not detect any hints of the NS character, instead even a strong statement disassociating themselves from it. Pagan and historical, that is more like it. If you have other info please share.

Cool.

I won't come up with dirty laundry, simply because I don't want to, but believe me: they are NS (just look with whom they sometimes share the scene and on what festivals they sometimes appear). That being said, I'll repeat that they wrote great music.

I'd defer to you, since there must be something in the local stream that you know that I don't. I only briefly scanned the festival rosters they were on, and don't know many of the bands, especially the local ones, so it is entirely possible they have shared the stage with someone I would not care to get to know. I just found it strange that they would be NS, and at the same time make the forum statements they do. I guess many have had the suspicion, so Skyforger is trying hard to break it. Why would they do it if they were NS? To get better record deals and more festival participation? I guess so - the product may not sell if some people find out they are indeed NS. It is just truly NS bands espouse it right there, on the website, in the lyrics, etc. Skyforger goes the opposite route. Maybe they are the "shadow" NS band? Sort of the sympathizers. Then all of my "background check" woudl reveal nothing.
But, no, policy was not changing, at least I am going to stick to my guns. Of course, there is no way I am checking things on every band, so it the unknowing inclusion is entirely possible.

Correct.

Almost no one who could be offended by the NS part (or band's NS ideology here) is going to check the fests where Skyforger appear, and even if someone does the band or club names he'll see won't tell him anything. But if you'll visit SF's show in Baltic States you shouldn't be surprised that 70-80% of the public would be skinheads/nazis/so on.

First of all, great review. I've been a Skyforger fan for many years and have all of their albums. Next month I will see them live for the 4th time. Their live performance is as great as their albums.

I am quite shocked people here are thinking they are NS, even by people from their own country I can imagine people who don't know about the latvian mythology and culture and history may think of it because of the symbols but a quick look on their site and forum and reading some interviews will quickly reveal they have nothing to do with the NSBM scene. I've met the members at the 3 gigs I went to and even had some beers with them backstage. They are very warm and friendly people and are easy to talk to. They talk very openly about their music and about the subjects they write about and they are very passionate about their music and their country. They have lost some gigs in Germany because of the mythological symbols they use were interpreted as nazism by narrowminded people who can't be bothered to look a bit further than their own nose and stick to their first impression. I spoke with vocalist/gitarist Peter about this and he was clearly saddened by the fact these narrow minded people label them as a NS band. What better proof can you get of them being NOT a NS band at all? They even thought about dropping all the mythological signs which are part of their heritage so people wouldn't label them.

The gigs I saw they played with Manegarm, Sear Bliss, Menhir etc, I don't think that any of those bands want to be connected to NS in any way. Perhaps in the Baltic scene Skyforger has shared the stage with a NS band, but hey, how many chances do you get over there to play? Touring is expensive. They never played at a NSBM festival and I really can't believe that in the baltic countries 80% of the people that go to the gigs are nazis and skinheads. Over here in the Netherlands and in Belgium where I have seen them I didn't notice any nazi skinhead type of fans. And people go to gigs and festivals just because of Skyforger's great music.

Once again, great review Alex, hope the other releases will find their way to you aswell, I'm sure you will love those even more.

First post is about NSBM. We've lost a lot of our tr00 BM posters, anyway welcome to Metal Reviews.

Actually it is not about NSBM... that was the point of my post hehe

I'm not a tr00 BM fan either, I listen to some black metal, but lately I mostly listen to doom metal and pagan/viking metal and folk music but there is also a lot of death, grindcore, gothic metal in my collection

And thank you

Draugen's post is very timely, as if he had known I have been having conversations with the Skyforger camp. With everything said back and forth I am strongly convinced there is absolutely no NS leanings with Skyforger. The statement I gleaned off their website is reinforced by my personal reaction/conversation. For me this case is closed. I went into writing this review based on the fact I generally liked the music, these days I can say it grew on me even more, and then I was pointed out to the reversal of our own MR policy. I am glad to say that no policy reversal, knowingly or unknowingly, has occured.

And that, my friends, is what you call "PWNED!"

This is really ridiculous!

At first I was very surprised or even shocked that a guy from Latvia is calling Skyforger a NS band. But all came clear for me when I saw the signature of Mr. Desolate… He is a Russian and I think that this fact turns the topic into a different light. I do not want to start a political debate here, but I would suggest Desolate to visit local history museum in Lielvarde, open air museum in Riga or even the Pokaini forest… Just read some book about Latvian culture and mythology, if you live here! If you don’t understand Latvian language, ask in the library for some translated material. Maybe it will help you to understand that swastika (I’d like to say Thunder cross) was not found by Nazis.
And talking about the skinheads in Skyforger concerts – they are as narrow-minded as you are, Mr. Desolate. 70-80% ???!!! Whom are you fooling? If there are some, they are not welcomed.
And please – stop spreading sh*t!

And for the last time – Skyforger is NOT a NS band!