The vocalist, although not having the widest range and vocal capabilities in the world, he possesses an unholy shriek that stays powerful throughout the entire duration of the release. The drums have a very organic feel to them, and no single part of the drums feels flat or lifeless. The bass guitar has a magnificent presence and adds a lot of meat to the whole skeleton of the album. The production on this full-length is simply brilliant. Such juxtapositions of different emotions and musical approaches manage to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that during the late 1990s, they were probably one of the few bands who stayed true to their original identity, yet managing to stay fresh and consistent all throughout. It starts off on a very sombre note, which slowly progresses into an all out assault, only for all that rage to slowly quell itself and turn into a very atmospheric guitar passage. The track goes through several different periods. One perfect example of such musical equilibrium would be the sixth track on this album called "My Hate is His Spirit". Each song has enough variety, has enough personality, to be memorable even months after first listening to it. When it comes to pacing, Ragnarok prove to be masters of the trade. Most songs plod along at a very mid-paced speed and this fact manages to provide the album with a certain emotional weight that sometimes cannot be truly communicated in a frantic way. What we have on display here, is ten solid standard black metal tracks with heavy melodic tendencies. "Arising Realm" contains twelve songs, with two of the tracks serving as an introduction and an outro.
The themes they speak of, has a very worldly feel to them, and their sinister nature takes a form beyond the spiritual and mental, and becomes realized in the arousal of anxiety in listener's subconscious. Throughout their storied career, spanning almost three decades, Ragnarok have put out several albums that can be considered essentially as black metal, however, what makes Ragnarok stand apart from the rest of the black metal horde, is the very realistic aura their music possesses. This album came out in 1997, by this time, the foundational aesthetics of black metal had already been established, and a lot of bands who were limited to playing orthodox black metal, decided to seek out new frontiers in musical terms. Even though they can be considered as some type of "unsung heroes", it seems quite clear to me that those who truly enjoy quality and unadulterated classic black metal. This band has been around since 1994, and they have left an indelible mark on the entire black metal scene worldwide. They have a certain edge to them that many of their compatriots only dream of achieving.
Ragnarok has always been one of my favorite black metal bands from Norway.
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