The Almighty Mr. Vintersorg

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Vintersorg and Otyg

Mattias (left) Vintersorg (right) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/BoboTheRagingHobo/227_photo.jpg)

Otyg - left to right : Cia, Fredrik, Vintersorg, Mattias, Daniel (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/BoboTheRagingHobo/otyg1.jpg)

Official site/Forums (http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?&f=42)

Origin - Sweden

Genres :
Vintersorg - folk/viking, post black, progressive
Otyg - folk metal

Lyrical themes :
Vintersorg - Astrology, science, philosphy, nature, paganism
Otyg - Swedish folk tales

Discography :

Vintersorg -

1998 - Hedniskhjärtad (Paganhearted) (demo)
1998 - Till Fjälls (To The Mountains)
1999 - Ödemarkens Son (Son Of The Wilderness)
2000 - Cosmic Genesis
2002 - Visions From The Spiral Generator
2004 - The Focusing Blur

Otyg -

1995 - Bergtagen (demo)
1996 - I Troldskogens Drömmande Mörker (demo)
1997 - Galdersång till Bergfadern (demo)
1998 - Älvefärd
1999 - Sagovindars Boning
1999 - Live in Asten-Heusden (live album)

It all began in 1994 when Vargatron (Wolfthrone) was formed by Vintersorg (Andreas Hedlund), Mattias Marklund and Stefan Strömberg as a black metal band. The band eventually started to move towards a more folkish black metal, the current bass player at the time did not like this idea and thus left the band. With this disturbance of the band they decided to quit the band under that name and continue on under another name. The band was then named Otyg after recruiting a new members to the band, Daniel Fredriksson on bass and Cia Hedmark on vocals and violin.

About the same time Otyg wrote and recorded their first demo, Vintersorg revived the project known as Vargatron under his name Vintersorg as a one man project. In this time period of 1995 to 1998, each of the bands recorded demos and both were signed under Napalm Records. The year 1998 was a big year for both bands since they were both releasing their debut albums under Naplam records, Otyg - Älvefärd and Vintersorg - Till Fjälls. Otyg's first full lenght is pretty much full on folk music with some distorted guitars and all clean vocals, this album also had mediocre production. Vintersorgs first release was more of a progressive post black album with alot of folk influences in sound and pagan influences in lyrics. Then again in 1999 both bands released another full length album each, firsty Otyg with Sagovindars Boning and then later that year Vintersorg released Ödemarkens Son. Otyg continued on with their folk based music with better production on this album and a cover song as well, Dio's Holy Diver. Vintersorg also continued his trademark sound of post black riffs and vocals and paganism views with Ödemarkens Son to continue his nature themed/sound music era.

Vintersorg continued on with his project, but in 2000 his bandmate in Otyg, Mattias Marklund joined forces to create music with Vintersorg in this project. This same year Vintersorg released another album, Cosmic Genesis, which defines the end of Vintersorgs era of the nature/pagan themed music. But it only started a new era for the band, a more progressive folk influenced musical era based around the cosmos, science and such in lyrical themes. The reasoning to why Vintersorg did not want to continue the nature themed music is that it had become tedious to create even though he still held his pagan views.

During this time period, Otyg never released a new album like Vintersorg was doing. 2002 was a big year for both bands, but both of them were not positive so to say. Vintersorg released an even more progressive album entitled Visions From The Spiral Generator continuing on the era of science and space related topics. They also recruited Steve DiGiorgio on bass and Asgeir Mickelson on drums to add to the musical project in a creative sense for their respected insturments. But in 2002 Vintersorg and Mattias both officially announced that they had lost interests in Otyg and laid that band to rest.


Both me(Vintersorg) and Mattias feel that we can't go on with Otyg as we have lost our burning inspiration and lust in that musical arena. And under those circumsatances we've decided to, instead of do a recording that we'll never would have the true feeling for and probably couldn't fold our musicial spirit into, just let it be. Recordings just for the sake of it never turns out great, and our policy is to put our deepest emotion and soul in what ever we do, so... We need to challenge ourselves to the utter edge of our abilities and unfortunately we don't have that situation. Maybe in the future we'll do a recording if our minds and souls wants that, but right now it would be to go back several years on our musical course which every artist strive to avoid. Progression is far more exciting then regression!

In 2002 - 2003, Vintersorg with Mattias and his other fairly new recruited session members Steve and Asgeir wrote and recorded the album The Focusing Blur and released it in 2004. This album is a wonder blend of folk and progressive elements based around the same themes the last two albums offered. But this album is a concept album based around Vintersorg's quest to find the essence of Man and the connection between science and fate.

When we’ve found the utter limits of Man’s knowledge, we’re at a new crossroad with new things to follow, so mankind’s focus isn’t constant. It seems more like we’re victims of a blur, where the blur is the arena of things we haven’t thus far mastered. As such, it may be referred to as "The Focusing Blur"

Vintersorg is currently working on an all acoustic album with Borknagar, his other active band at the moment. Vintersorg is translated into Winter Sorrow and is also the name of a son of a great pagan leader.

Song samples from each Vintersorg and Otyg albums :

Till fjälls :
Till fjälls (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1Z70L0SVKMTO332KSWU1UESSTI)
Isjungfrun (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2YMAVU661W8JG3II2MWYRFMREG)

Ödemarkens Son
Svältvinter (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3NYWGSU9TY78L3TFSEFWX38CNO)
Offerbäcken (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1OFBL34F6EVZX0RV8UBFKY3BJJ)

Cosmic Genesis
A Dialogue With The Stars (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0X0OH4W08DZEM154SOF6QDQ6UA)
Naturens Galleri (http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2YUVV9GXPJCAR0VYCT3579S5Q6)

Visions From The Spiral Generator
The Explorer (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1ECUVHD36L7ML293SS4XHLUHH2)
A Star-Guarded Coronation (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3OP9LISN1627Q3DKVFJ50LMGOQ)

The Focusing Blur
The Essence (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1KOXVB8S28N5F3HG0D5XIYQULC)
A Microscopical Macrocosm (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0MW4LVEG8S1AS093FFN94Q9GNW)

Otyg

Älvefärd
I Trollberg Och Skog (http://s8.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=12P5PTQCBILX22QMNAIGXLO45K)
Draugen (http://s6.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2VSNZ2QNCP8GC2JKQHOJNAN723)

Sagovindars Boning
Trollslottet (http://s6.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1I2NU7YD1XY0O2IJ8DB0KTFBA9)
Holy Diver (http://s6.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0LUNY93JSG3T33BHUANAW7QCQ5)


This thread is intended to whore out Vintersorg to gain new fans of this amazing artist. This was also inspired by Mxican's threads on Muse (http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326815) and The Wildhearts (http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326746)

Thanks for the read and hope you like the samples...

[RiceMonster]

Vintersorg = ownage. Very good thread. You were the one who got me into them I remember.

[jpj]

None of those song links work for me :(

[Freezing Moon]

Vintersorg is amazing. Great stuff, and thanks for the samples from the albums I haven't heard yet. I will be looking into more of his stuff.

Good thread. I definitly learned a lot of stuff I didn't know about the band that I probably wouldn't have bothered to find out. Thanks.

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

None of those song links work for me :(

Interesting...they work fine for me.

If you really want to hear the songs, you can always contact me on AIM and I can send them.

[Bartender]

Great thread. One question, though;


About the same time Otyg wrote and recorded their first demo, Vintersorg revived the project known as Vargatron under his name Vintersorg as a one man project.

How is it reviving the project if he's changing the name and so on? As in, what's the difference between what he did, and just starting a new, one-man project as "Vintersorg"?

Anyway, surely this thread deserves more views/posts than it has now..what I've heard of Vintersorg is excellent.

[Jom]

Excellent thread, Bobo. I commend you for putting it so much time and effort into your project :)

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

How is it reviving the project if he's changing the name and so on? As in, what's the difference between what he did, and just starting a new, one-man project as "Vintersorg"?

Anyway, surely this thread deserves more views/posts than it has now..what I've heard of Vintersorg is excellent.


Why he "revived" it instead of just going about under a new name is because he was using the same ideas, riffs and such that he wrote when it was under the name of Vargatron. But he just contined it as his own project instead of a full fledged band. (also when ever I hear Vargatron...I think of Varg in robot like form heh)

[Special Brew]

He was in Borknagar(he is currently) and Arcturus(not sure) too wasn't he?

[Daven]

great review dude

[Bartender]

Why he "revived" it instead of just going about under a new name is because he was using the same ideas, riffs and such that he wrote when it was under the name of Vargatron. But he just contined it as his own project instead of a full fledged band. (also when ever I hear Vargatron...I think of Varg in robot like form heh)

Ah I see, that makes more sense.

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

He was in Borknagar(he is currently) and Arcturus(not sure) too wasn't he?


He was never in Arcturus. Garm (Ulver, ex-Borknagar), ICS Vortex (ex-Borknagar, Dimmu Borgir) and Øyvind Hægeland (Spiral Architect) have been the only vocalists for Arcturus. But two of them have been in Borknagar on two albums each, so maybe that's where you drew that thought.

[Magicaltroll]

These songs are pretty good. Thanks.
I'm not to into the Folk thing though, I mean it's good, but I'm not that into it.

But nice thread :)

[Special Brew]

He was never in Arcturus. Garm (Ulver, ex-Borknagar), ICS Vortex (ex-Borknagar, Dimmu Borgir) and Øyvind Hægeland (Spiral Architect) have been the only vocalists for Arcturus. But two of them have been in Borknagar on two albums each, so maybe that's where you drew that thought.

Ah-ha I was thinking of Garm, nevermind that, lol. Hmm great article and nice song choices, I have about half of them already downloaded, but thanks for the other half :p

Your the one who got me interested in arcturus and borknagar in the first place I believe, thank you! Because of Borknagar and Arcturus I now love Ulver, Otyg, Fejd, Spiral Architect, and some of DImmu's stuff :D

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Ah-ha I was thinking of Garm, nevermind that, lol. Hmm great article and nice song choices, I have about half of them already downloaded, but thanks for the other half :p

Your the one who got me interested in arcturus and borknagar in the first place I believe, thank you! Because of Borknagar and Arcturus I now love Ulver, Otyg, Fejd, Spiral Architect, and some of DImmu's stuff :D


I think it's cool that Borknagar has had three of the top clean vocalists from the Scandanvian area in their band at one point or another.

And I got you interested in them before? Hmmm must have been awhile ago then heh.

[Special Brew]

I think it's cool that Borknagar has had three of the top clean vocalists from the Scandanvian area in their band at one point or another.

And I got you interested in them before? Hmmm must have been awhile ago then heh.

Borknagar was awhile ago, and Arcturus wasn't too long ago, I saw The Sham Mirrors cover on your avatar and saked about it and you gladly told me about Arcturus. :D

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Bump...

[Det_Nosnip]

*Creams pants* THANK YOU! I've been meaning to check out Vintersorg for a while, now, and the other group sounds interesting.

I'll review 'em as they come in.

Otyg:
Draughen - Very interesting music. Almost sounds like it's going to have a 6/8 feel, but the extra space turns it into 4/4. Kinda like a latin clave rhythm, I suppose. Vocals sound a bit...odd, though.

I Trollberg Och Skog - Again with the deceptive rhythms! This one feels like a compound time signature with a group of 5 followed by a group of 6, then another two groups of 5. It's deceptive b/c they're taking the same basic theme and cutting off/adding beats, so it actually took me a few listens before I followed that intro rhythm. The vocals are still a little weird, though and kinda a letdown compared to the inventive and creative music. I agree that the production is kinda poor on this album, but the ideas are very fresh.

Trollslottet - better production, cool music, but I still don't like the vocals. :( They sound a bit better here. Music's a little more straight forward than the last album, but with some weird noises and effects going on.

Vintersorg

Till Fjalls - Piano intro is cool, the rest of the band interacts with it in a kinda weird way, I didn't expect it to be so upbeat! The riffing section sounds pretty badass, very cleanly done. Vinter still sounds...weird. The notes he chooses and melodies are alot better, but there's something really odd about his clean tone. Scream is much better. :) That part where he screams/whispers (somehow?) "TILL FJALLS" was ****ing sweet as hell, and transitioning into a cool *** acoustic guitar break made it even better. Rock!!

Isjungfrun - Guitar intro very cool. Female vocals were unexpected, as was the upbeat nature of the rhythm section. They seem to like doing this alot, pitting an upbeat rhythm section against light piano or guitar. I liked the change into 5/4 in the middle. Vinter's screams there are ****ing brutal!

Svitlvinter - The intro sounds...like Dust in the Wind! :lol: Slightly. Very sweet, though...very chilled and melodic. The distorted guitar section is interesting, some oddly placed accents. This song is all over the place! :lol: Very cool stuff.

Offerbcken - Starts out heavier than the other tunes, but with a consistent melodic quality and lots of things going on below the surface. More of Vintersorg's crazy screams...clean vocals follow. The song really builds up emotionally in an interesting way.

A Dialogue With the Stars - Cool title. Music's a departure from what came before, very interesting. English! Whoa...that's new. :lol: I like the chorus, with the backing vocals and whatnot. It sounds like this is a bit more "catchy" than the other songs, despite being....weirder. I'm not sure how that works, but it does!

Naturens Galleri - Very cool. Again, catchy, but in a way that shouldn't be catchy yet still is.

The Explorer - I've pretty much grown accustomed to NOT expecting Vintersorg's albums to sound all that much alike, but this track STILL surprised me. Very progressive and technical...is this the same drummer? They almost remind me of a cross between Arcturus and Cynic at this point. Vinter's vocal tone has cleaned up quite a bit, I like the way he sounds alot better here. Even his screams sound different. God, this ****ing rocks.

Star Guarded Coronation - I'm really liking the way his clean voice is starting to sound. This is a weird track...very groovy, almost to the point of fusion like Cynic does, and then trippy and spacey at the same time.

The Essence - Well, as I said, I've pretty much come to expect something completely different out of each album....but this still came out of NOWHERE. After a melodic acoustic guitar intro....progressive black...craziness! :lol: This is all over the place. ****, his voice sounds great too...kinda reminds me of Sham Mirrors era Garm in some places.

Microscopical Macrocosm - Definetly a very "proggish" song title. :lol: Weird song....kinda mellow in its own way. For some reason, he's making me think of Mike Patton in Mr Bungle.

[Permanent Solution]

Awesome thread dude, I need to download all those songs, but first I have to clean off my desktop since that's where they're headed, but I will get them downloaded for a listen :)

[Riva]

Amazing thread, Jason... Vintersord does indeed own.

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Bump before I go to work...

[munky_magik]

*downloads*

[NJMetalMeister]

Excellent writeup, i dont think mr. V is mentioned enough on these boards. Very capable vocalist, and his music is very refreshing and original. I am eagerly anticipating his voice on the acoustic borknagar album in the works.

[Det_Nosnip]

Hell yeah. :cool:

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Hurrah, lets try this one more time...

Kinda disappointed in how many people obviously don't care enough. The same thing happened with Mxican's threads as well...

[Riva]

It happens all the time.

I think the length of the text startles the noobs, since they are obviously used to replying to threads like "omgz who has heard of dis band?", or "wut song duz it 4 u?" or something inane like that.

[Bartender]

If the bands are obscure enough to be unknown to some of the regulars though, then they can do good things anyway.

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

It happens all the time.

I think the length of the text startles the noobs, since they are obviously used to replying to threads like "omgz who has heard of dis band?", or "wut song duz it 4 u?" or something inane like that.


That's what mainly gets me...

People such as MXican, Med, and various other users including your self make informative and helpful threads, but they barely make a second page out of it.

Some one makes a thread with just 3 sentences it goes for 5 + pages...

[Special Brew]

Bumb!

C'mon guys! This is one of the best threads we have had for awhile, surely you could say something?

[Det_Nosnip]

Some one makes a thread with just 3 sentences it goes for 5 + pages...

That's because half of the posts are "what the **** do you mean?" :lol:

[NJMetalMeister]

That's because half of the posts are "what the **** do you mean?" :lol:

what the **** do you mean? :confused:

[joe_fresh]

Nice thread. I own Till Fjälls, Ödemarkens Son, Visions From The Spiral Generator and focusing blur. Of all of them i think the last two are the best. For me the vocals in the earlier albums tend to get a bit samey, but that might just be. Steve DiGiorgio bass work is amazing.

[Bartender]

His bass work is always amazing though, so it's rarely likely to be really noteworthy.

[Arucard]

Right, i remebered this thread and though gawd, Bobo put so much work into this so i want to discuss Vintersorg more!

I'm sure that Bobo would be happy to do some more uploads if he e-mails them, and i will be happy to as well so yah.

If you want music just ask me or Bobo i guess.

Vintersorg > All.

[Det_Nosnip]

Hehe...yeah. Vintersorg is awesome, though....don't forget he's also in Borknagar! I really love the Till Fjalls album...very interesting music, and very emotional. Plus, that scream in the title track is amazing.

[Silentia]

I'll check them out after work, or tomorrow. Heard good things about Vintersorg.

Thanks for the write-up in advance... :p

[i am the robots]

Vintersorg is so good. Only problem for newer listeners is the accent... when I first heard him/them I was like LAWL this guyz a noob he sounds retarded, but then I grew up.

[Arucard]

Hehe...yeah. Vintersorg is awesome, though....don't forget he's also in Borknagar! I really love the Till Fjalls album...very interesting music, and very emotional. Plus, that scream in the title track is amazing.

His work on Epic pales in comparison to his Vintersorg stuff, IMO.

[paranoid923]

Nice write up. I'll check them out. What albums to you recommend?

[Shattered_Future]

I've heard much about Vintersorg, but unfortunately lost all the material I had by them without listening to any of it.

There was a link in the Folk/Viking metal thread with some stuff by them...forgot what it was. If anybody has that, could they put the link up?

[BoboTheRagingHobo]

Holy crap, this got bumped?

This things old heh.

And ya, if people are interested enough, I would be glad to do some e-mailing of his albums since I am all for trying to get more fans for this awesome artist.

[Kingofdudes]

Cosmic Genesis is a good album. I would be interested in some other songs aswell.