Review Summary: As it says on the sticker that followed with the CD: ’’The Next Generation Of Folk Metal’’.
Denmark has never caught my attention with their metal scene. I will admit, they have some good bands but none of them have ever made a direct impact on me before. This all changed one day when I was looking through a commercial CD catalogue and I noticed a band called
Svartsot. They were a folk metal band from Denmark and I thought to myself, “Why not give them a chance”? At first, I expected a sub par sound production, mindless blast-beats and kitten-strangling vocals. I was absolutely stunned when I first gave this album a spin. The music surpassed all of my expectations while I was sitting there, almost breathless from the music that was coming forth from my speakers. The music was undeniably catchy, very heavy, extremely melodic and captivating.
Svartsot has taken the best of the best in the folk metal sub-genre and have also kept their heaviness in mind as well.
Ravnens Saga or ''The Ravens Saga'' is the band's first album and it sounds like it was created by a well matured group of professional musicians. Everything on this album is flawless through the tight musicianship, woven together with such skill, making the music accessible for all to enjoy. All of the folk melodies are catchy and intriguing while the uncomplicated simple riffs and drumming help the songs pulse and breathe with one another. What stands out prominently though is the bands use of flutes and whistles, broad song variety and deep guttural vocals that truly make this album so fantastic. The flutes and whistles create a sort of magical feel to the songs. There is no shortage of slow and simplistic melodies that do not take any time speeding up into fast melodic passages. One real bonus to the album is that the flutes aren’t overwhelming, leaving the other instruments, like the guitars, perfectly layered into the mix so that the listener can hear the intricate picking patterns and thick chugging chords throughout each song. The only tracks that doesn’t have flutes at all are
Festen and
Havets Plage, but the tracks still has strong traits of folk melodies Acoustic guitars can be heard in tracks like
Hedens Dotre, while other songs like
Jotunheimsfaerden, take advantage of mandolins. Despite this language barrier, it’s still pretty hard to distinguish the lyrics anyways. I can only promise that you will be hooked by the marvellous vocals and melodies from
Gravollet all the way to the quick paced
Havets Plage.
Most folk/metal and Viking bands often use lyrics that have something to do with Vikings, their mythology or something that just has connections to the cold north seas.
Svartsot on the other hand has a slew of various lyrics in their material; like the Viking (or medieval) life-style, Danish folk stories, and of course Norse mythology.
Jotunheimsfaerden for example is based on a story where the gods Thor and Tyr are planning to steal the brewing vat from the giant Hymer.
Gravollet is about the tradition of when warriors drank some sort of beer to honour their fallen comrades.
Skovens Kaelling is a Danish folk story about an old hag that offers the strength of twelve men if a person gives her sexual pleasure by sucking her saggy tits.
Festen describes the parties that occurred at the time, which included vast quantities of beer, food, and the debauchery of woman. Most of these lyrics are interesting; some of them are funny while others are just slightly uninteresting. If I had to choose a song with boring lyrics,
Bersaerkergang, which describes the rage of a berserker before he enters a battle, would certainly fall under this category. The bottom-line is that none of songs have similar lyrics; all of them are special and they are well suited to the music.
Svartsot is definitely one of my all-time favourite folk metal bands. I have never experienced such a pure and well-produced folk metal album like this before. What I want in my metal music can be found in
Ravnenes Saga.
Ravnens Saga offers everything I could ever want in a simple but heavy album combined with lots of memorable melodies. All I can say is that you have to listen to this album right now. People who enjoy bands like
Manegarm,
Amon Amarth,
Ravnenes Saga should be right up your alley. As it says on the sticker that followed with the CD: ’’The Next Generation Of Folk Metal’’.
Positives
+ The melodies from the flute are pure magic
+ Splendid sound production
+ Undeniably catchy music
+ Vocals are top notch
+ Essential folk metal
Negatives
- None! It’s your problem if you don’t like it.
Recommended Tracks
-- Gravollet
Without a doubt the best track. The track has a great flow, intriguing riff lines, interesting lyrics and of course superb melodies.
-- Skonne Moer
One of the heavier tracks. Has a similar song structure as Gravollet but the melodies here are quite soft and the growls are deeper than usual.
-- Hedens Dotre
This is a song that screams the word Epic. There is only one sentence in this track but it doesn’t matter. The song is slow but extremely melodic thanks to the acoustic guitars and the epic melodies.
-- Tvende Ravne
A very good track that focus on the two ravens Hugin and Mumin that are discussing the outcome of a battle. Both growls and shrieks are included in this track. A quiet mellow track with splendid melodies and a varied song structure.
Fullscore: 5/5
