WSOU Picks of the Week: Dimmu Borgir, Letters from the Colony, Thobbe Englund

Seton Hall University’s WSOU radio is the only all-metal, all-the-time station currently broadcasting in the US, and has been a force in metal for DECADES. It’s also streamable online from anywhere in the world! Each week, the staff of WSOU shares their picks for the heaviest of the heavy, as well as the station’s charts for that week, right here on MetalSucks. Enjoy:

Dimmu Borgir – “Interdimensional Summit” (Dylan G.)

Hail new Dimmu! I’m finding that this song is either loved or hated by fans; on one side you have the purists who long for more blast beats, the keyboards to take a backseat and a growled chorus, and on the other you’ve got people who are just happy Dimmu are still releasing music. The power metal-esque solo is a bit of a throw off, but ultimately it fits well with the over-the-top feel of the song. I am not expecting another Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, but I am expecting a quality symphonic metal album.

Letters From The Colony – “Vignette”

Letters From the Colony are about to drop their first album Vignette, and if their song “Terminus” is any indication of what we can expect, the band might be one of the great surprises of 2018. If you find yourself longing for early ’00s’s Gojira, then this band is what you need in your life. While one might be tempted to write them off as a mere Gojira clone, the band has included subtle hints of their own style within this song, elements which I hope they explore further in future. Letters From the Colony may be Sweden’s next great metal export, joining the ever growing pantheon of legendary Swedish metal acts.

Thobbe Englund – “I Am A Viking” (Katie W.)

There’s a reason Yngwie Malmsteen is an esteemed guitar god: it’s a difficult feat for anyone to live up to his musical precision. Be that as it may, this new rendition of “I am a Viking” by ex-Sabaton/Raubtier guitarist Thobbe Englund blows any other attempt at this song out of the water. Though the track carries no remarkable or noteworthy innovation, it goes down as an immaculate classic tribute to the holy father of guitar that is Mr. Malmsteen. When played side by side, you can hear the new track’s spotless production with a higher-pitched vocal performance and an ending without the original guitar outro. The track pays great praise to the original and seamlessly finds its place on the Viking-themed album.