Vintersorg - Naturbal (2014)

Vintersorg is the project of Mr. V and Mattias Marklund, which started as a social project in 1994 in the wake of the failed Vargatron. Since then, Vintersorg has released 7 tremendous full-lengths and an EP (the first record Hedniskhjärtad), at the same time as Vintersorg himself has been involved in a myriad of other projects—including taking over the vocals for the mighty Borknagar, among others.

Ranging between folk metal and progressive metal Vintersorg has charted much uncharted territory and carried on the legacy of forward thinking black metal that was started by Ulver. A new record, Orkan is set to be released in 2012 via Napalm Records, to the joy of fans everywhere.Vintersorg (the band is actually a duo consisting of Vintersorg himself and long-term cohort since 1999 Mattias Marklund which isn’t confusing at all!) outings are usually avant-garde affairs where they try different things that are generally too off-the-wall for other Vintersorg/Marklund projects. I thought that on “The Focusing Blur” they got the balance just about right but occasionally moments of experimentation/insanity can eclipse the song itself, especially on subsequent releases. This time around though things feel different. There is a conscious shift towards melody (though we’re absolutely not talking the next Bon Jovi here), an effort to put something catchy and memorable in each song, but without losing any intensity. None of the power has been lost at all as the classic Scandinavian Black Metal feel intro to opener ‘Ur aska och sot’ confirms. Early Borknagar in feel, it’s the “extras” you notice – the memorable riff, the limited use of a female vocal (also cropping up to great effect on ‘Rymdens brinnande öar’) and an almost Beach Boys backing vocal to the chorus (that’s the off-the-wall I mentioned!). And the double-kick power continues through ‘Överallt och ingenstans’, the first of many tracks on here that have striking elements of mid-era Arcturus as well as Winds. It has a latter-day Emperor structure to it, but includes a whoa-whoa bit that the aforementioned Bon Jovi would be proud of!

Line-up:

Mr. V - Vocals, Programming, Bass
Mattias Marklund - Guitars

CBR @ 320kbps



Tracklist:

1. Ur aska och sot
2. Överallt och ingenstans
3. En blixt från klar himmel
4. Lågornas rov
5. Rymdens brinnande öar
6. Natten visste vad skymningen såg
7. Elddraken
8. Urdarmåne
9. Själ i flamma