It's Raining Menhir.

Way back in 2011 a band from the Czech Republic called Odraedir released a demo titled "Pagan Forest".  To be honest, based on that alone, it's not likely that I would have paid much attention to this band.  Folk metal is big enough now that I don't have to jump on every single thing that floats downstream.  However, in this case, there is a connection to my childhood, and that is naturally going to grab my interest by the balls.

My childhood involved a lot of ball-grabbing, and the less said about that the better.

You ever heard of the Gauls? They were a tribe of Iron Age barbarians who ran afoul of the Romans in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE.  If you're like me (and be thankful you're not) your first introduction to the Gallic peoples was heralded by these two fellows:

Asterix and Obelix

Stars of a long running graphic novel series by silly French folk René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix and Obelix were a couple of Gauls who spent most of their time beating the ever-living shit out of the Roman legions and occasionally cheek-rubbing with historical celebs like Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

"But what the fuck does this have to do with Czech metal?" I hear you screech.  In a word, this:

Odraedir - "Asterix and Obelix"

I listened to the rest of the tracks off this demo and my official opinion is that while rough around the edges, this band has a lot of potential, and not just because they suckered me with nostalgia.  It takes a lot more than memories of funny comics from my misspent yout' to draw me in.  Truth.  It also takes songs about booze.

Odraedir - "Fine Odraedir Mead"

I am a simple man with simple pleasures (including, but not limited to, ball-grabbing).  What more do you need in life than comics and booze and the occasional hearty scrotum-cupping? Why, doing all of those things IN MIGHTY ODIN'S NAME, of course.

Odraedir - "The Dawn Of Oden's Horde"

If you like any of these songs you can find them all and more over on Odraedir's FB page here.  Looks like they're doing the Dawn of Heathen Warriors tour in March so hopefully that means they'll be taking off soon. I would definitely be into a full length/studio album from these guys.