It is beautiful that there still exists something like this. Instead of getting on everybody’s nerves by releasing an immature, ridiculous demo three weeks after having founded the band Helrunar took their time of two years until they are now presenting their material to the public. And it’s even more beautiful that they apparently didn’t waste their time posing in a winter forest. 
Helrunar play predominantly fast Black Metal, into which they managed to breathe something like a Viking soul by adding some choirs, acoustic guitars and partly Icelandic lyrics. The band itself names for example Helheim, Ulver and Taake as their inspiration, which is not very surprising. Therefore, it’s obvious that they hardly reinvented the battleaxe. However, I cannot and I also don’t want to accuse the band of having stolen any ideas from their role models. The opposite is actually the case. Helrunar appear to be quite original and fresh concerning their stylistic orientation. An initially sceptical writer cannot imagine any cheeky comments anyhow. It is the same case with any possible weak points, about which you could write some nasty statements. And therefore it does not astonish that after a couple of listening sessions a formerly sceptical distance transforms itself first into disbelieve and not long after into pure enthusiasm. 
Believe it or not, but "Grátr" is the best work of Viking-BM that I’ve come across for a long time. With their first piece of work Helrunar manage to forge their steel just the way it is appropriate for real Nordic men. There is some competent, in places even halfway original drumming, varied singing and above all some really awesome riffs and wonderful lead guitars. The arrangements just fit perfectly, and choirs and some acoustic intermezzi are just in the places where I would like them to be. I also think that the production has been very successful, since the band managed to combine both brute force and the detailed representation of their compositional finesses. The atmosphere on "Grátr" is often marked by pure aggressiveness. Nevertheless there is no lack of sublime moments which are typical for this genre. Some acoustic parts and also some parts of the singing add a certain melancholy component to the album which I personally don’t want to miss. As an exception, I’d also like to mention the lyrics of Helrunar. For they widen the usual spectrum of quotations from the Edda and Viking battles with some really well-done poems which are not only beautiful to read but which also heighten the joy of listening due to their good audibility. 
As a conclusion, I can only emphasize once more: it’s definitely your own fault if you miss "Grátr". We won’t accept any excuses or apologies from you.