Review Summary: Not Vintersorg's best work, but a listenable album which grows on you with time.
Vintersorg (or Mr V as he is known on his forum) is alias of very active musician Andreas Hedlund, who to this day, is active in five bands: Borknagar, Vintersorg, Fission,Cronian and Waterclime, not to mention his former projects, Havayoth and Folk styled group Otyg. Vintersorgs' signature style is ever evolving, from the early days of nature and pagan mythology-themed music and lyrics to the present avant garde style dealing with scientific ideas and topics such as astronomy, astrology and metaphysics.This project has a few of those signature traits, although those expecting another Vintersorg album will be somewhat dissapointed. Cronian is a collaboration with friend and fellow Borknagar member Oystein G. Brun, based on an idea started in 2000 which was to create an album with an epic feel depicting the unfriendly arctic landscapes. Sounds crazy? Duh!
Firstly, these guys obviously have a passion for science, big words, the enviornment, and everything in between. In the many albums Vintersorg is part of, he usually does a quick thankyou to Steven Hawking, Galileo, or someone else who has inspired his music, and that's not missing here. I find Cronian is actually pretty user friendly lyricially in comparison to Borknagar or Vintersorg; However, it's still interesting enough to hear about their imaginative arctic exploration. For those who find it a little hard to grasp what am I talking about, here is a brief lyric sample from the album: "Glacial deserts surround this habitat, Where lounges are slaves to the Northern Gale, An innacessible position on an innacessible plat, Here, even daylight feels immensely pale". One final thing I must mention is the song title Iceolated. I can't help but laugh at the pun everytime I read it accompanying serious music.
Terra definitely isn't just a new Borknagar or Vintersorg album under a different name, and that is readily apparent in the strong orchestral-styled usage of synths. All of the tracks on here are strongly synth-based, and it is put to good use in many of the intro and outro's which really help the listener to imagine the arctic envionrment which Oystein and Andreas were trying to create. Guitar is toned down somewhat, and there are fewer memorable guitar riffs. Instead it's used more as a backing instrument and the song structures themselves are untraditional. This album is atmospheric to say the least, and little aspects like the nice intros and the usage of choir singers I enjoyed. However, I would have liked to have heard a few epic guitar solo endings, as I think these would really have added something to the epic nature of Terra.
Vocally is where I think Vintersorg shines. He has a really unique voice and I love the Swedish accent, especially since Mr V has such nice clean and harsh vocals. In fact, before I listened to Vintersorg, I couldn't stand screaming or harsh vocals. Now, I've grown to enjoy them very much, and I think the change from the heavenly clean vocals to the aggresive harsh vocals really add something to music in the form of displaying different feelings and emotions. Another signature aspect of Vintersorg's work is his clean singing with the screaming supporting in the backround, something that is used minimally on this album but still something I enjoy. It's nice to hear it again on Terra. The same can be said of the spoken passages. At times, the harsh vocals seem a bit out of place especially with the soft synths, and the clean vocals could have been used to their full potential at better times. For example, sometimes when Vintersorg is singing a clean section, the music seems to be overpowering.
However, there are still some great standout tracks such as 'Cronian', 'Iceolated' and 'The Alp' where you hear Mr V performing really well and fitting in with the music almost seamlessly.
Cronian has signed a three release record deal with Century Media, so hopefully they improve upon their unique style with each release. Terra isn't perfect. It feels like there is something missing which would turn it from a good cd to a great one. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I believe it's a mixture of lack of structure, overuse of synth and a few other minor things which are probably in some ways just a matter of taste. I would quite easily recommend Vintersorg's Cosmic Genesis or Visions from a Spiral Generator album before purchasing this if you are wondering what Mr V is all about, but for those who are wondering whether or not they should pick this up and are fans of either Andreas or Oysteins previous work, then I would have to say the answer is yes. Cronian shows promise to develop positively as a band in future, especially with these two geniuses working together.
