Hot on the heels of ex-bandmate Hamish Glencross’s latest effort with new band Godthrymm comes The Ghost Of Orion (Nuclear Blast), the fourteenth full-length from Yorkshire Gothic Doom royalty My Dying Bride. This year celebrating 30 years as an entity, any pressure the band may have felt is counteracted by an expectedly assured, emotionally raw performance that comes with such craftsmanship and experience. Continue reading
The brainchild of Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Einar Selvik (Wardruna), Skuggsjá was a project created to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution, and ‘A Piece For Mind and Mirror’ (Season of Mist) is the result.
Of course, as everyone outside of Norway is well aware, the country’s two hundredth anniversary was actually back in 2014, and that was when Bjørnson and Selvik were initially approached to perform a collaborative piece at the Eidsivablot Festival in Eidsvoll, Norway (where else?). Going by the name Skuggsjá (which translates into ‘mirror’ or ‘reflection’), the pair decided the project deserved pursuing further. They performed together again at Roadburn Festival in 2015, with them secretly slipping into studios in and around Norway over the year to record material whenever possible.
Joined by the likes of Grutle Kjellson and Cato Bekkevold (Enslaved), Lindy-Fay Hella (Wardruna), and folk musicians Eilif Gundersen and Olav L Mjelva, the band have attempted to contextualise their brand of ‘harder’ music in the country’s two hundred years of history, looking at the cultural traditions and ideals of the nation and how relevant aspects of the past connect with the present. So, nice and easy then.
The band use traditional instruments (most of them handmade by Selvik himself, the multi-instrumentalist even going so far as to skin the hides of animals to make drums) such as the Birch-bark lure, Hardanger fiddle, bone-flute, Goat-horn, Kravik lyre, and Tagelharpa as well as all the usual instruments associated with the more contemporary genre of Black Metal. There are some modern electronics in there too, while the lyrics are a combination of early Scandinavian, Norwegian, and Norse.
This isn’t an album to be dissected track by track, but rather one that should be enjoyed as a whole, ideally listened to in a single sitting and free from distraction in order to fully absorb its magic. While relaxing during its more atmospheric parts, it’s easy to allow yourself to be transported to the edge of a cold Norwegian shoreline, looking out to sea as longboats silhouetted against the moonlit horizon move silently inshore, shrouded in a thick, ethereal fog. Er… well, anyway. It all sounds very, very Norwegian.
The heavier sections, most noticeable during ‘Rop Frå Røynda – Mælt Frå Minne’ and the ten and a half minute Bathory-esque ‘Skuggsjá‘, complement those instrumental, occasionally narrated parts perfectly, dropping in at the right moments, hitting you hard and never outstaying their welcome. Sometimes though, like with songs such as opener ‘Ull Kjem’, or closer ‘Ull Gjekk’, it’s the traditional instruments and different vocal styles, rather than the distorted guitars or blastbeats, which create the greatest, most lasting impact.
None more Norse.
8.5/10
GARY ALCOCK
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Wardruna is releasing the second release of the Runaljod trilogy called Yggdrasil on February 24, 2015 via Indie Recordings.
The ongoing Runaljod trilogy, which began with 2009’s Gap Var Ginnunga, is a musical rendition of the twenty-four runes in what is often referred to as the “elder futhark.” Some of the oldest of Nordic instruments such as primitive deer-hide frame drums, kraviklyra, tagelharpe, mouth harp, goat horn and lur are implemented, while poetic metres and lyrics are written in Norwegian, Old Norse and Proto-Norse tongue. Some of the recordings are captured outdoors or under circumstances of significance to each rune while other sources of sound like trees, rocks, water and torches are used. All of these elements are carefully woven into a rich musical landscape and complemented with whispering voices, melodic song and mighty choirs.
With Yggdrasil, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Einar Kvitrafn Selvik has, together with vocalists Kristian Espedal (aka Gaahl) and Lindy-Fay Hella, managed to create a strikingly beautiful and intense continuation of what was started with their first album, but without falling into the trap of merely repeating themselves. Yggdrasil is also graced with guest appearances by renowned Icelandic composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Iceland’s leading rímur singer Steindór Andersen.
Yggdrasil was written and recorded by Kvitrafn from Spring 2010 to Winter 2012 at his own Fimbulljóð studio and various outdoor locations and will be made available for the first time in CD-digibook format via Indie Recordings on February 24th, 2014. The Yggdrasil digibook is the only version where you can find complete lyrics with English translations as well text on the runes.
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