Having fronted symphonic Viking metal act Leaves’ Eyes and goth metal legends Theatre of Tragedy, as well as appearing as a guest vocalist on countless different projects over the years, Liv Kristine Espenæs has finally united officially with her sister – who has herself appeared as a guest vocalist on several Leaves’ Eyes releases – and joined Nordic folk metal act Midnattsol.

Formed in 2002 in Germany by Carmen Elise Espenæs, and former guitarist Christian Hector, Midnattsol added Liv Kristine to their line-up late last year, and new release The Aftermath (Napalm) is the result. The band’s fourth album, The Aftermath benefits from the addition of a second female voice, and also wisely sticks to relying on Midnattsol’s folk influences rather than trying to shoehorn Leaves Eyes’ more commercial symphonic stylings into their sound.

Folky melodies and soft intertwining vocals make ‘The Purple Sky’ a great choice for an opening track, but it’s with ‘Syns Sang’ and ‘Vem Kan Segla’ that the album really opens up: the former heavier and more dramatic, the latter a serene folk ballad with shared vocals and a more metallic climax. ‘Ikje Glem Meg’ is similar to the previous song but a wee bit riffier, and their interpretation of traditional Swedish ballad ‘Herr Mannelig’ is darkly atmospheric and features Death Metal vocals. An excellent song for sure, but at nearly ten minutes in length, it does go on a bit.

Although not a bad track, the title cut is actually one of the weaker entries, and ‘The Unveiled Truth’ with its gentle keyboards and clean guitar urging itself on to a powerful finale is much better. ‘Evaluation of Time’ is an instrumental which sounds like Opeth doing their Seventies Folk thing, but changes up a gear into something heavier about halfway through. Again, it’s a fine track, but it’s also another one that goes on too long – which is rather ironic considering its title. Closer ‘Forsaken’ is decent but unspectacular, and the traditional sounding bonus track ‘Eitrdropar’ is another song which is arguably better than the title track.

A wonderful showcase for the Espenæs sisters’ lilting, ethereal and occasionally almost soporific vocals, The Aftermath is an enjoyable, if rather undemanding album with most songs moving languidly along until the heavy parts jab them into life – sometimes rather unnecessarily. So, if you like your Folk Metal catchy but quite lightweight, then you could do a lot worse than this.

7.0/10

GARY ALCOCK