Formed from another band in Skellefteå, Sweden, he sang completely in Swedish in the first two albums plus an EP but later blended both English and Swedish in his upcoming albums. This band is called
Vintersorg, this might be one of the more unique bands that the metal world has created, the lyrical themes are often about northern Swedish mythology like the Asa gods, the band also sings about nature and fantasy themes. The band plays a style that might seem a bit uninteresting but the truth is that this really cool if not great. Take progressive, folk, Viking, power and black-metal, forge them as one and you have
Vintersorg. This band has both fast and aggressive elements of black-metal (maybe not much though), technical song patterns (not high-tech though), melodic power-metal moments like acoustics and keyboards, low and deep male singing and angelic female quest singing and atmospheric songs. I can ensure you that this band does not singing about horrible stuff like death, violence or other evil stuff, since this band sings in Swedish and I am myself a Swedish person I can ensure you that this is a peaceful metal band.
The band first released an EP called
Hedniskhjartad, then their first full-length album was released. This review will focus on their album called
Till Fjälls, a very interesting album I must say.
Why pay attention to this when we can’t understand what they are singing?, this might many of you think, but I think you don’t need to pay attention to the lyrics. The important thing about this album is that you like the overall music performance, this album has a huge variety of songs and song patterns. If you like fast music then you can find it here, if you like melodic music then you should check this out , I’m pretty sure that this album has something for most metal fans. I said that this album also had female quest singing; unfortunately I have to say that there are very few songs with female vocals. If you know about
Sharon Den Adel from
Within Temptation then you have something to refer to, but then I only refer to her performances in their latest album called
The Silent Force.
This was meant to be a band with a one-man crew but
Vintersorg has been given help on his way, this album is performed mostly by
Vintersorg himself but he is backed up by
Vargher.
Vintersorg is the vocalist in this band, he has though a unique and unusual singing style. He sings similar to opera singers but he has more depth and feeling in his vocals, he sings inwards instead of outwards, a bit hard to describe but my point is that that he has a very interesting singing voice. But mister
Vintersorg can also handle raspy and evil black-metallish singing and /or grunting, this style is not common in the songs but it gives the material a good contrast to the regular singing. This album is musically great, the guitars are awesome, and here you have strong, atmospheric and fast riffing, you got calm, gentle and melodic acoustic melodies and quite complicated, fast and catchy guitar solos. I can thought identify a bass in this album, you can hear the bass lines pretty good but the bass does only follow the rhythm sections and does not make any standout performances. The drumming is good; here you have both fast double bass kicking and slower and friendlier drumbeats. The drumming in general is very good and very catchy; I don’t think that the drum gets in the way for the other instruments, good drumming. Keyboards and sound effects are also present in this album, the keyboards are performed by both members while the electronic parts is done by
Vargher. Don’t expect any special performances from these instruments though, the keyboard only takes care of the melodic atmosphere and to lift up the songs, but it is a very good thing though.
This album is called
Tills Fjälls and it was released in 1998, this album delivers a total of 10 melodic and strong moments. I will give you a quick translation at the end but I will use the Swedish song titles here. The band starts with
Rundans which is like a short intro track, it has a calm pace with slow but heavy drumming. There is a typical fantasy sound effect in the background, the singing is slow but quite strong, there are guitars here but I suspect that this is mostly power chords, and there is calm acoustics throughout the song too.
För Kung Och Fosterland starts out strong with the evil and raspy vocal style, this song is fast and has some good-quality shredding and great overall guitar work. The regular singing is also present here, the song is catchy and somewhat atmospheric, this song has also the melody from a very famous song. I think it is called
In The Trolls Mountian Hall or something like that, I don’t know what it is called in English.
Vildmarkens Förtollande Stämmor is a medium paced song with some catchy guitar work, the song has a good variety in the vocal work, first you have lower vocals and then higher singing. The song feels big; it has a strong atmosphere and has a song pattern that really forces you to listen through the whole song.
Till Fjälls starts with a calm and melodic keyboard intro, the drum starts and a harsh low scream enters. The song is fast and has the intro keyboards as main instrument; the song has a quite catchy pattern and has good vocals, there are these edited vocals which has this chanting effect and it really sounds awesome.
Urberget, Äldst Av Troner enters with intensive drumming and repetitive riffing. The pattern changes and keyboards come along, but the song feels a bit flat here, everything feels a bit hidden while the vocals get all the attention. This song might be one of the less interesting songs, it gets though a catchier and more atmospheric song pattern but the first song section might bore you, but this is not a horrible song though.
Hednad I Ulvmånens Tecken starts with melodic and sad keyboards, the overall song feels a bit sad, the vocals are the regular half-chanting vocals. This is either some sort of filler track or it might be some sort of ballad, the keyboards and chanting seems to be the only musical acts in this song. This is though a pretty good song but if there was more atmospheric moments it would’ve been a great song.
Jökeln enters with a aggressive intro with fast drumming and pissed off vocals, and this is the vocal style that will be dominating in this song. There is of course the normal chanting vocals but it is the black-metal singing that takes more space here, a decent song, quite catchy but nothing remarkable.
Is jungfurn starts with medium paced melodic acoustics, the intro later gets more instruments and it is quite catchy. There are female vocals here! And they sounds beautiful, there are not only female singing though,
Vintersorg also sings in this song but there is the female that really makes this song to a great one. The song is calm but yet quite fast; this song appears to have some orchestra effects in it too.
Asatider starts with sound effects from a battle of some sorts, I suspect that it has something to do with the old Swedish mythology. The song is fast, it feels a bit atmospheric and it is quite catchy, not one of my favourites but this is a good song.
Fångad Av Nordens Själ starts with a heavy and melodic intro, this song feels very atmospheric and it is catchy too. This song just feels perfect, there are dual singing with the evil black-rasp and the chanting vocals, and the female is also present here which is always a good thing. The song is fast and it has sections with fast metal ingredients and calm, melodic acoustic moments, this song was a great song to end this album. This might be the strongest track on the entire album in my opinion.
Time for me to leave but there are just a few things I will add before I go. I really liked this album, I can hardly describe this album in words, and you really need to check this out that’s for sure. I basically liked everything about this album, the vocals, the instruments, the song patterns you name it. The only thing I thought was a bit sad was that there only was two songs with the female vocals, she sounded like an angel. This is really a one-of-a-kind band that really needs to be discovered by the metal heads out there. I think that this album would go home to most power-metal fans and other metal heads as well. I hope this review was not too boring and I hope this was a good time reading.
This is a small track translation, I have no idea of how many of you out there are Swedish or know about the Swedish language but I have done my best to describe the songs as accurate as possible, and here is the final result.
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Rundans / Rune dance
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För Kung Och Fosterland / For King And Country
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Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor / The Enchanting Atmosphere Of The Wilderness
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Till Fjälls / To The Mountains
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Urberget, Äldst Av Troner / The Deep Mountain, The Oldest OF Thrones
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Hednad I Ulvermånens Tecken / Heathen In The Sign Of the Wolf moon
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Jökeln / The Glacier
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Isjungfrun / Maiden Of Ice
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Asatider / The Times Of Asa
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Fångad Utav Nordens Själ / Trapped Of The Northen Soul
The songs I would recommend are my personal favourites, the songs are
Fångad Utav Nordens Själ,
Isjungfrun,
Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor and
Till Fjälls. My final overall rating for this album will be a:
4.5/5
