Release Date July 7th, 2026
Format Digital
Genre Melodic Death Metal
Origin France
Hrothgar comes from France and play melodic death metal built around Norse mythology, battle imagery and big melodic lines. The band is made of Quentin Peyrouse on vocals, Tristan Vatrain and Benoît Mourenas on guitars, and Seb Couriol on drums. With "Tales Of Valhöll", they step into a style that has a very clear direction, grand themes, heavy riffs, fast rhythms and a taste for epic metal storytelling.
If you never them again you'll think you're listening to Amon Amarth. Same Viking themes, same melodic riffs, same epic mid-paced aggression, same everything. Hrothgar wear the influence so openly it stops being an inspiration and becomes a carbon copy for some. Others might like it coz it’s not a bad. Quentin Peyrouse even sounds like Johan Hegg, the same deep, commanding growl, the same way of bulldozing through a riff like he's leading a raid. If you love Amon Amarth and simply want more of the same, Hrothgar will scratch that itch. If you're looking for something with its own identity, keep walking.
"Fight You Like A Beast" and "Ulfhednar" are the album's best moments, heavy, fast, with melodic guitar leads that actually stick. "Blazing Shores" and "Fenrir's Fate" go for a bigger, more cinematic sound and pull it off well enough. Seb Couriol on drums keeps the whole thing moving with energy and precision. The production is clean and powerful, every instrument gets its space.
At 55 minutes the album starts to drag. The closing tracks, "The Voyager" and "The Kraken", arrive when the record has already said everything it has to say. The formula doesn't change from track to track, and without any real surprises, the second half just fades into the background. Hrothgar is not at the level of the bigger names in this style, no need to pretend otherwise, but they have made an album with heart, force and enough good songs to deserve attention. If they had more originality they would have earned more.
|7.5
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