So fragrance flankers either go...1) Let's ramp up the originals ideas to 'eleventy stupid' (to quote Mark Kermode) and call it 'Intense' or 'Extreme' while actually squeezing the heart and soul out of the fragrance or effectively and inexplicably making it weaker! or....2) Let's give it fresher more aquatic type top notes or shoehorn in a modern fad from other popular releases (all of which are made by our parent company as well) diluting what made the original good. This is the latter. Fresh opening and all very nice just like someone added a little generic crap to what was an interesting but ultimately flawed original. I kinda quite like that you can still smell the orignal DNA but I'll pass on this effort.

I was sat in my friends tattoo shop yesterday listening to a couple of well groomed young lads discussing fragrance and specifically how many Creeds they owned. I decided not to chime in with my opinion, not least because the talked turned to this fragrance and I realised I hadn't tried it. Viking was something that was much anticipated and maybe all that pressure has amounted to an anticlimax...so I immediately went to find out. What Viking does deliver is a very strange and complex opening which sadly the rest of the fragrance doesn't live up to. The top notes to me smelled like a mixture of mango, sweet berries, licourice, mint, patchouli and saffron...EXACTLY! a mad combination. It had a quality of Versace Man (The discontinued purple bottle) or the Oud or even a bit of PHII but the main accord of this perfume soon prevailed, showing it's fangs and truly what this scent was about. That is...Aventus. A kind of fruity cocktail consisting of a kind of pina colada but with exotic mango or something, the refreshing ice lolly cleanness of many Creeds like millisime Imperial or Erolfa etc... but with an underlying and unsettling heft in the form of something a bit smoky and woody giving masculine purpose to what is an otherwise fruity/musk perfume. I think it's due to a note I love... pink pepper. It's usually quite a fleeting top note but was very interesting to see the composition using it so heavily and maybe the cause of all that confusion to start with? It's a bit like a desert which utilises the fragrant sweet heat of pin pepper to accent and cut through the fruit. The problem I have is that for all Aventus faults or people's taste just not being attuned to it. Aventus has something natural, raw and primal about that pinapple/birch tar combo. Viking feels more chemical and much more modern in the wake of recent popular releases in precisely the same way that the ladies version of Aventus did. An Aventus 2.0 then and Creed can charge what they want because people will inevitably buy this stuff for that reason. Performance was good but I had a sneaking suspicion it would be atomic but it wasn't. This is a muddled review but don't get it twisted....I didn't hate Viking, and will definitely be wearing it again to further flesh out my opinions, because it's kinda interesting and not a simple open and shut case. Incidentally one of lads in the shop concluded that despite owning millisime Imperial and Aventus he thought that £185 for 50mls was far too expensive for this perfume and I'm inclined to agree there.

If you are a love of white florals (which I'm not) this could be a fringe alternative to look at. For me the loudest shouting white flower in there was Orange blossom, closely followed by neroli and maybe some jasmine, because out of the lot I do quite like jasmine and that both sweetened and classed up the proceedings. Petitgrain and bergamot are the perfect top notes and persist well on top of the base but not a combination we've never seen before. Eight and Bob's expanding range of fragrances are all perfectly well and good but not a one to date has made me take notice. This is no exception and although white floral/citrus is almost the perfect universal unisex 'thing' you could imagine....I still find it more feminine leaning. Having said that my girlfriend hated this one.

I have to say I was completely blown away by this perfume and trying it several times makes me arrive at the same conclusion....Black Phantom is great. I wouldn't go as far to say it's a triumph or anything too gushy but what I like is that BP marries some good concepts in what could've been another massively over priced damp squib, like many others from Kilian. The thing is when he hits... he hits and the creativity in this one is akin to the ones I enjoy like Straight to heaven, Apple brandy, Back to Black (I don't like but I appreciate the originality) Incense Oud etc... The opening is immediately gourmand, gorgeously cocoa like, warm, sweet but also bitter, it's well balanced. Then there's a woody vetiver type vibe, smoky, evoking the colour grey and a charcoal like texture. The alcohol edge which is a By Kilian signature is definitely there and next to make an appearance before drying down to a sugary, coffee infused caramel and tonka a bit like tia maria or kahlua. The dirty vanilla drydown is soft but lasted very well on my skin in fairness. Okay so I don't know how much this perfume costs but I have bought Kilian's before and they ain't cheap. This is mainly due to the packaging and this one has a fancy box, so I'm thinking a lot. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt on the name and the perceived 'Darkness' which I actually thinks comes from the smoky wood and the rum element rather than the chocolate. I suppose chocolate can be dark as well so hey? What I like about Black Phantom is that it could so easily have been another boring gourmand, jumping on the Feve delicuese hype but what this and the Dior have in common is that you (or at least I) could smell the quality. You can smell literally smell the money. As much as I love Mugler AMen Tonka and can see the similarities this is a league up in terms of quality and for the money so it should be. I'm not talking strength or longevity here or snobbery just that Je ne sais quoi. This perfume has distinct phases too, the opening the heart and the drydown and I thought progressed well through each one. I enjoyed it but I'm not looking to add it to my wardrobe.

This fragrance surprised me greatly. I don’t dislike the others in this range but never found them compelling enough to purchase after trying fairly extensively. You’d be forgiven for thinking (as I did) when this opens that Extreme night is just another very crude attempt to try to copy the Dior Homme format. The opening note is a big powdery, leathery blast of orris root/iris (love it when I see the notes after saying orris root as opposed to iris And it’s listed in the notes!) However, as gorgeous and familiar as it is this accord is short lived, dying back almost as quickly as it came on. Then extreme night actually mutates into something unexpected and I think that was the best thing this fragrance could of done to ensure it won’t be forgotten....well by me anyway. Don’t get me wrong it’s still no DH but the remaining low buzz I can smell after eight hours is very close to the skin and very appealing. This fragrance undergoes a series of changes, constantly shifting throughout. You get the softness and sensual nature from vanilla and Tonka without them being overstated and making the name of this fragrance highly appropriate. Then there’s a floral hint, lifting this fragrance but never making it too feminine, although I suspect many women would enjoy and wear. Then there’s an underlying woodiness to the whole affair, grounding it nicely. I’m not sure how much of that was deliberate though. I’m in two minds as to whether this is a complex yet subdued take on the sexy night time fragrance or a mish mash of jumbled ideas and lukewarm concept...either way the end product is the same. Performance is not great longevity wise but a big problem is that extreme night doesn’t project, nor will it ever be a big impact scent, choosing instead to sit quietly on your skin where only the most intimate of guests will get to smell you. Its mostly gone after several hours and despite quite liking it, I couldn’t justify paying top whack but if it was very cheap in a bargain bucket I might have a punt. Probably not though.

Well, some might even say that this Ice flanker is an improvement on the originals broad themes and crowd pleasing, amorphous nature. Ice certainly has a cool opening blast of bitter citrus and maybe a touch of mint. It’s not minty but you get that impression, then a modern musk/cedar and some warmer powdery tones in the base but the heart of the fragrance is that bergamot, pepper and even slightly ginger like spice. The deep part of the drydown is my favourite though and Immediately reminscent of the very good summer fragrance Dior Homme Cologne. It’s actually more like DHC than it is like the original JImmy Choo Man. So Ice is not a bad outing and I can’t criticise but never it’s going to excite me all that much. The performance and silage were pretty good likely boosted by ambroxan something I can definitely still smell after 7 hours.

I'm not a big Azzaro Chrome guy, I have owned one of the flankers and on the whole they are good value for money, entry level aquatics. However, I'm not sure about these comparisons, especially to Brit Rhythm and my beloved Eau de Lacoste Blanc. I can sort of see how maybe, I suppose they are in the same style but Chrome Pure is better than Brit and not a patch on Blanc. Chrome Pure opens nicely enough with nice citrus notes and a sort lychee/melony lightness which is very nice, refreshing and all that. Then it's lightly floral, orange blossom is listed in the notes and I'll go along with that although it's not characteristically distinct, it is white floral in nature. There's a summery coolness about this and I'm trying it in winter so it's immediately not appropriate. The drydown is an aquatic/wood/musk, enjoyable but not earth shattering and the performance was okay to quiet. I'm being extra fair to it because I reckon it will be in bargain bins in no time and if you like it might be a nice little summer bargain for someone.

I’d given up slightly on Mont Blanc and especially these emblem flankers but I thought I’d give this one a wear as the other two had left me cold. I have to say this scent isn’t bad at all. The fruity open is slightly confused and has me thinking of all those 1 million rip off that came out after it’s success, chucking a load of sweet notes at an Amber, vanilla warm base and see what sticks. Emblem absolu is actually much more like Boss bottled though in that sense because when settled is more focused, delivering a pear note and true enough cardamom. The base to me is more sweet and ambery than vetiver but definitely some woods in there because it’s not overly sweet but definitely an oriental. I found the performance okay and this caught me in a good mood. I don’t dislike that pear note but it somehow puts me off fragrances giving them an inherent cheapness...maybe that’s just me. Despite this I’d wear it as it reminds me of a few good scents.

This is really interesting to me because without any preconceptions this fragrance vividly conveys the two most popularly voted notes, in abundance. (Mandarin orange and ginger) Refreshing in a sense, delivering something with a certain clarity and not the mess that most recent releases tend to be. Having said that... is L'Homme orignal or is it derivative and generic? Okay so it's generic. Reminded me very slightly of Davidoff Horizon, and that Vavartos one that looks like a wicker basket but more so of YSL L'Homme (not least because of the name) only somehow less inspired. Opening with a fresh citrus and I even detected the rhubarb listed in the note breakdown, it's a pleasant thing, which settles to a much more orangey smell quite quickly. It's squeaky clean in the main but I think a hint of dirt wouldn't of gone a miss and could've elevated this scent to higher heights. There's some musk in there and the aforementioned ginger as it dries down but that's it. To go on too much about this scent is giving it too much credit and perhaps grasping at complexity which simply isn't there. Not bad, but not good either. I should take the time to mention at this point that on the whole Lacoste fragrances are poor. Unusual then that one of the rare hits and probably my favourite designer fragrance of all time would be Eau de Lascoste Blanc, which is a heavenly smelling fragrance and a lesson in understatement. So excluding that one, in comparison to the rest of their abysmal repertoire this fragrance is alright by me. Lasting power is average to weak. That's about it folks.

If we want to band about the word 'quality' to describe, strength, silage and performance then sure this scent is an average to below par fragrance, reminiscent of something from the lesser designers...I'm thinking Dunhill or Mont Blanc. However what these houses lack in finesse or following through on a fundamentally sound concept they make up for with a dash of originality and something which very nearly stands out and that's what this is. I'm not saying it's the most original or ground breaking scent because it certainly isn't but it's doing enough to satisfy me and that tells me it's not conforming to the recent tropes. The opening is great, immediately drawing me in with a bergamot, spiced cardamom sort of vibe but right away appealing. The drydown is warm and relatively masculine, woods and a hint of vanilla perhaps. The notes in this aren't all that clear but well constructed enough not to be that everyman crap we are used to seeing. I like CR7. I probably mentioned my bias as a Manchester United fan when reviewing Legacy but that was a good fragrance too. Love him or loathe him just like Beckham his scents are crowd pleasing and could be a god awful lot worse. Thumbs up!