Hailing from the frozen tundra of Ontario, AxMinister are the heroes of metal the world needs!

Initially formed back in the forgotten mists of metallic history (1999); the power-trio AxMinister looked upon how po-faced metal had become; and yay, and verily, did they pull their mighty Ax from its anvil where it had rested, Excalibur-like, until it was needed; and set out to put the metal world to rights…that is as it should be! They are here to minister the metal, and they have their mighty Ax; their symbol of salvation to guide them. In magic and metal myth, names have power, and none more so than AxMinister, as splendidly-named drummer Bas Von Bismark explains. “We play warriors of metal on a holy quest. Our preferred weapon is the Ax. It’s also a street name where we partook in libations as teenagers.”

REVIEW: We have a saying around here, that when it comes to metal, nothing poor can come out of Canada, meaning the scene of this huge territory has always been diligently monitored by myself and my metal peers. Despite being around for quite a while, seems my radar missed AXMINISTER and I confess its my first ever encounter with this trio. While the intro above does sound a bit weird, the intrigue is definitely there. Not every often you encounter a three-track conceptual EP, with total duration of half an hour, where one of the songs dominates with more than half of this timing. And putting on top the historical thematic, which is always controversial, even when it comes to artistic interpretations, I am more than eager to open the Pandora’s box and see what is going on under the hood of this release.

First things first – lets clarify the notions. By nature, any title put in Latin implies a historical allusion and I get why the band adopted this approach when naming the EP. Latin is not my forte and a quick Google search reports that “vir fortis” translates into “hero or strong man/soldier”. As we’re about to discover the two protagonists of the recording are Napoleon Bonaparte and Vlad the Impaler (a.k.a. Dracula) which puts another point on the scoreboard of logic and justifies the naming convention. Engaging with the 17-minute “opus magnum” majestically called “The Age of Napoleon… The Rise”, seems we encounter a sort of musical biography that tracks the early days of the future French Emperor and it’s just the preamble of a future trilogy, that probably will follow with chapters dedicated to the dominion and the demise of this remarkable persona. What a better way to open a commander saga, than marching drums and parade tunes to immerse us in the atmosphere and open a tunnel back in time? Vocalist is impatient to unfold his tale and just 15 seconds deep, the narration of the main lyrical subject is already upon us.  The striding tempo of the intro continues on the background during the first verse and with its ending like a canon discharge, powerful distorted riffing blows up, gutting the moderate vibe in what results to be a minute long instrumental bridge, a stepping stone to the next phase of the plot. Something in this transition reminds me of ICED EARTH and the way they musically pivoted in their masterpieces from the late 90ties and early 2000nds.

Time to swing things higher and the band abruptly takes us into speed-thrash terrain, without any warning or preparation. Perhaps the intent here was to recreate the shaky moment in history with dramatic changes in the development of societies, without which the world wouldn’t look as we know it. A successful attempt to certain extent and what makes a nice impression and stands as a signature manner of composition is putting plenty of long-play instrumental fillers in-between verses, that by all means inflates the duration and let us rest from the waterwall of words and historical facts that bombard us. Each stage in the development of the story has its own musical motive, something which could be little naive, however in a way provides an operatic extravaganza and you keep wondering “Let’s see what’s next?!”. In the meantime, I identified a lyrical element that could qualify as a chorus, given it appears several times without having chronological connection with the story evolution. Not much of a wait and we reach the time of Napoleons birth, that calls for a balladic cool off and introducing certain lament in the air to emphasize on the significance of the moment. Quite a short if you ask me and true to their nature AXMINISTER commit to yet another U-turn on the musical highway unleashing the next style in the book – one with funk stylistics, dominated by a booming bass play and reggae vox way. Now I am almost stunned and speechless, wondering what’s the meaning behind this hilarious move and if we ever get the chance to interview the trio remind me to address that with them.

Halfway thru the “symphony” Napoleon himself makes his “stage debut”, that marks conceivably the most awkward part of this eerie creation. That portion comprises of clumsy clipped speech accompanied with a monotonous drumming and irrational guitar strokes as if a constable is reading a death sentence on the gallows. All wrapped up in chaotic tempo and handed over with brusk and rudimentary sound, maybe or maybe not made on purpose, making you wonder how this would look like in the form of live staging act. The freaky feeling goes on, mutating into a drum jamming as if warming up on a rehearsal which in combo with the background crowd noise instills a striking sense of uncertainty and chaos, which probably people of the era felt when the French Revolution broke up to shake the foundations of their world. For sure It’s an easy come, easy go with these guys, when a sudden piercing scream breaks the havoc and signals the next reincarnation, converting to a joyous fanfare in the form of naughty guitar solo, that elevates the spirits and refreshes the senses. All this being a sneaky transition to the closing part of the plot, where some guillotines and executed kings come into play. Dominant bumbling beats and almost shouting intonation of the narration is what makes this section stand out, the vocals here sound bit more focused and serious, meaning we see another different face of the band, that clearly is a master of morphing between diverse artistic images.

Bombarding drumming and a fast-paced solo, where the bass spikes from time to time, take us towards the end, despite the restless attempts of the guitar to carry on with this forever. The beat is accelerating, building momentum to drop the bomb of the final chorus, sung with that frantic voice we almost forgot for the last 10 minutes, resolving it with an outro that could be considered and altered cloning of the first 15 seconds of this astonishing chronicle.

Taking a deep breath and getting our thoughts together, (not an easy one after this heavy mental scramble) we get to teleport in the dark Middle Ages when “Vlad The Impaler… Son Of The Dragon” walked the earth and became the subject of numerous heroic, not so humane, deeds that brought him a legendary status in both history and novel fiction. Counting exactly 7 minutes of length, that one is a total extension of the musical and artistic stylistics introduced with “The Age of Napoleon… The Rise”, starting with the intro which sounds like an accelerated version of the same in the intro song, with a touch of oriental soundbites, followed by the default wicked narration heralding the main protagonist. All of that unfolds in the first verse (or chorus, if you confide in the lyrics file provided by the band), that turn to be unexpectedly short and invites a portion of “woohoo-woohoo” sing-alongs, garnished with a series does of hellish squeals and screams. There is no other way, but to create that demonic atmosphere that highlights the core traits of Vlad Dracula, who after all is the godfather of all them vampires and creatures of the dark.

Once completed the task, AXMINISTER move to the “documentary” part of the track, delivering certain historical truths and well-known facts, as if told by a medieval metal minstrel during some lavish aristocracy feast. One element of fine surprise, something we didn’t observe till know is the pre-chorus, that promotes bit more flexible structure of the composition and breaks the monotonous chugging of the recitative. Other than that, the remainder is just a sequence of self-replicating fragments, just complemented with entire passages of stoner-doom alike guitarwork ornaments.

Reaching towards the end, moving to the third song of the EP “Vlad The Impaler… Forests of Impalement” happens to be the sequel of the previous one, yet with far more sinister title and gruesome delivery. In fairness, that one qualifies as the most properly structured and catchy of them three, like all the bold improvisation and versatile exploration have settled down and distilled into something that really looks and feels like a “standard” metal tune. Being the shortest in the record, with little under 5 minutes, the slaughter begins with a ripping sound, followed by rhythmic war drumming, high-pitched guitar and bombastic bass. Those are the pillars that will support the main theme of the closing song and in the same time, following the stereotypical lyrical pattern of its predecessor. Sharp and short phrases, almost spilled out words akin to the death metal vocal style and if you picture the actual wording, this presentiment would be doubled if not tripled. Kind of developed sympathy for the chorus though, not only for being the most “melodious” moment, but for reminding me of that wild and raw genesis of early to mid-eighties thrash, that got tamed in the decade to follow. Kudos to the solo as well, for feeling in place in the whole composition and transitioning us towards the closure, after the last verse marked with ecclesiastical choir on the background, as a desperate attempt to antagonize with the vampiro-satanic outcome.

CONCLUSION:

The moment I finished the first listen-through of “Vir Fortis”, the first thing that popped in my mind is the refrain from one of my favorite GAMMA RAY songs and I quote “Close before—Insanity and Genius…” The last thing you can call this recording, coming from AXMINISTER is “ordinary” or “conventional”. For the first time I encounter such staggering alloy of raw metal mentality, burlesque approach to a conceptual recording and cutely grotesque delivery. For sure won’t put this CD on my shelf, however won’t forget it soon and definitely will look after the sequel, just out of sheer curiosity and to verify were these guys for real. All due respect to the trio for doing their thing the way they see it fit, probably not caring for any critics or bending knee to any sort of external validation. Being honest with your music, no matter how clumsy that may come, attracts people and most certainly the fanbase of the band will appreciate those boys sticking to their guns. Ironically, the way they tried to create and convey their compositions, inexplicably brings back memories of RUNNING WILD and their timeless historical classics in the likes of “Little Big Horn”, “Ballad of William Kid” and mostly “Treasure Island”. There is no way to ignore another anecdotal aspect of this extraordinary EP. The artwork is oil paintings done by the drummer Bas himself, something that amplifies the DIY vibe to the max. I swear there was a comedy cartoon series back in the days with the exactly same style of visual expressiveness and whoever from our respected readers can identify it, please leave the name in the comments.

THENWOTHM Score: 5.5/10

EP and Live Band lineup:

 Nicholas Klaus – Vocals/Bass

 Steve MacLeod – Guitar

Bas Von Bismark – Drums