Doing a search on members of this Dark Nordic folk sextet along with the fact that no real info is provided about them largely drew a blank. However, the name Alex Hellid was an obvious one being founding member of the mighty Entombed and of course Nihilist before them. Obviously there has been little in the way of new material from them since last album ‘Serpent Saints’ way back in 2007 so it’s hardly surprising he has found another musical source to focus attention on even if this one has seemingly come out the blue. Also, with him on hand as one of three guitarists one would expect that this is not all light and airy stuff and would have a little bit of clout about it. This is does along with medieval themes in a “peaceless” time on a debut album that takes one on a journey through ‘Pestilence,’ ‘Malnutrition’ and ‘Rebellion’ over its hour-long running time.
We sink into the ‘Warm Wet Mud’ of the title track with violin and soothing strains before focus is found via singer Liv Hope who in native tongue provides plenty of power and grace to proceedings. Guitar adds velocity and there are hoary male vocals joining in here and on some of the other songs. Again, info on whoever provides these is not exactly spelt out. It’s a solid opener with both sublime flow and burgeoning gravity, traditional and contemporary instruments working in perfect balance together. By ‘Otto’ its obvious that Liv has a beguiling voice that will transfix even if you do not understand the words, a big choral accompaniment behind does nothing to detract either and this is quite rousing as well as delicately subtle in equal measures. Keyboards are used to great effect, bringing ‘Farsot’ to life and paving the way for more upbeat and up-tempo instrumentation and vocals. You can easily bang your head to this and it illustrates the variation of the music taking it from a dark folk to metal persuasion. A patch of pestilential organ work does the theme no harm either. There’s plenty of atmospherics in form of thunder as ‘Missväxt’ brings gloomy hunger to the forte but the strong melody, natural tongue-rolling vocals along with some sharp sonic effects keeps attention levels high. Focus returns to the masculine for the title track and fans of Viking bands such as Manegarm and Thyrfing will certainly enjoy this rousing battle cry.
Neat jagged riffs coarse through the ‘Uppror’ of Rebellion along with a fantastic underlying rhythm and vocal strength. If you wanted to pick out one quick-fix track to listen to, this would probably be the one as far as I am concerned. There’s sounds of battle and tales of Downfall and Gods but everything pretty much leads to the epic requiem that is the conclusion. Particularly effective are Liv’s rafter hitting birdsong tweets and a compulsive, luxurious melody making it a fitting conclusion to this dark medieval odyssey.
To be honest I was wary of picking this one to cover as were by the seem of it other writers but I’m glad I did as it stands proudly, heads high in what has become an overpopulated genre. With plenty of dark paths to lead you down this really is a journey of the unexpected and well worthy of your attention. Excellent cover artwork as well!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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