XIII Voltum Lunae is already the fourth full-length album of this Polish dark metal sextet and even though the band has an established position within the Polish metal scene, they are nevertheless relatively unknown outside of Poland. Something Asgaard hopes to change with the release of this album.

‘Asgaard’ refers to Nordic mythology and means the realm of the Gods. The music is certainly not Viking metal, but very diverse gothic dark metal instead, and combined with the Latin songtitles, the band name strikes me as slightly odd. Nevertheless it is the music that counts and not the band’s name.

XIII Voltum Lunae offers seven diverse dark metal songs and three instrumental atmospheric interludes. The music is very difficult to describe, but sounds a bit like a mixture of Moonspell, Trail Of Tears, older Lux Occulta and Arcturus. The songs are quite refreshing and diverse without sounding experimental and the most prominent feature of Asgaard is the extremely varied vocals of Przemyslaw Olbryt, who howls, grunts and sings.

Unfortunately, Asgaard hasn’t managed to rid the music of clichés and although certain passages aren’t too original, at least it never really gets to the point where it becomes annoying.

The production of the album is very good and especially the balance between the instruments is superb. Background keyboards are indeed background keyboards and they actually sound refreshing without totally dominating the music. The same goes for the violin. The album sounds very mature and songs like “Mare Tranquillitatis” and “Mare Procellarum” are just excellent songs. One simply must conclude that Asgaard is certainly ready for a bigger audience. I see a very bright future for this band if they manage to rid their music of clichés.