Conan's most recent release Blood Eagle is the group's most refined offering to date. But that doesn't mean that they've lost their edge; instead, they've sharpened it to a fine point whilst retaining the characteristic bludgeoning force with which the trio has hammered listeners from the beginning.
The production on Blood Eagle is top-notch, especially for such a sonically demanding piece of music: there's clarity, punch, and, of course, serious low-end weight. I'm talking Jabba the Hutt sitting on your chest weight. One of the key elements of the production is the clarity in the impossibly low-tuned bass and guitars.
The drums still retain their punch through the wall of noise while the sparse vocals (or battle cries, as would be more appropriate here) sit nicely, if not a little too quiet, in the dense mix. Even in the heaviest, lowest-tuned, moments — the second half of "Foehammer" and the entirety of "Total Conquest" come to mind — the instruments do not succumb to muddiness or become indistinguishable muck. Sonically, Blood Eagle lives up to its namesake: brutal and precise.
It seems as though Conan has been doing their homework and listening to some High On Fire because Blood Eagle is faster and more aggressive than previous albums, featuring a number of riffs that raise tempos from trudge to barbarian charge to warhorse gallop and beyond. Songs like "Foehammer" and "Gravity Chasm" pummel listeners as if they are on the receiving end of a mammoth cavalry charge (let that image sink in) while "Altar of Grief" and others opt for a slower, more typical pacing. Nonetheless, the tempo effect is great: the faster, groovier riffs get listeners banging their heads whilst providing a convincing juxtaposition to the low and slow brutality that makes Conan legend (again, "Foehammer" is fucking heavy).
Blood Eagle is not a concept; it is not a convoluted album-spanning storyline; there is no metaphor, no deeper interpretation. There is only war, only blood-drenched combat in realms both fantastic and primitive. There is no need for spiritual investment. Go ahead, pump some iron while listening; you'll lift cars. Play it while you're LARPing; you'll conquer the entire battlefield, smashing heads with your foam warhammer. To each his (or her) own, but one thing is certain: Blood Eagle is a quality piece of heaviness deserving of a place on year-end lists all around. So, in closing, buy this album if you'd like to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.
Words: Ian Fetters
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