Just under the polar circle in a town called Mo I Rana the Norwegian black metal band Elite was founded. Seven years later Elite has released their third album We Own The Mountains through yet again a different label.

I’m not too fond of the Norwegian black metal, mostly because of the pretentious nature of the bands, while not living up to expectations in the actual music. Elite is, among other of course, a big exception to this generalisation. But then again, it would be foolish to label Elite as a typical black metal band. When you listen to We Own The Mountains carefully you will recognize some folk influences, which are a pretty good combination with the somewhat technical, but nonetheless easy to listen to, black metal.

The production of the album is not too polished, but polished enough to not be bothered by it. Vocalist Bent adds an aggressive edge with his coarse screams to the melodic riffs, the tight drums and the epic vibes on the album to maintain the raw sound. The songs are pretty intense and especially the ingenious riffs of 'Amanita Muscaria' nest into your head. It’s hard for me to name my favourite, but due to the shift of clean vocals and acoustic guitar to harsh screams and some amazing riffing, 'Rovnatt' impressed me a lot.

Never heard of Elite? We Own The Mountains would be a worthy introduction!