Vintersorg: Folk Metal's Dynamic Duo (Artist Spotlight)

When you look at how many people tend to make up an average folk metal band, you most likely will find a number between 4, 5, or 6.  Usually bands will have a vocalist, guitar player (sometimes two), bass, drums, and in most cases a keyboard player to provide the Celtic instruments in the background.  You do see bands like Eluveitie, Korpiklaani, and Turisas, who have band members playing other instruments.  Korpiklaani and Turisas have violin and accordion players and Eluveitie have violin, hurdy gurdy, and flute players (Other band members may double up other various Celtic instruments on their records).  Then you have Sweden's Vintersorg ("Winter Sorrow" in English), who make some of the best and catchiest folk metal I've ever heard and the crazy part? There are only two guys in the band!

I first heard about Vintersorg in a post by the site metalsucks.net on a post titled "Shit that comes out today."  They listed Vintersorg's new album Orkan (Hurricane in English) as one album that came out today.  Now if my memory serves me correctly they said you would find these guys on a playlist that also included bands like Fintroll and Enisferum, so I went and checked them out.  After one listen I kind of turned into the "All the things" meme guy and wanted to DOWNLOAD ALL THE VINTERSORG ALBUMS! With the help of Orkan, Vintersorg quickly became one of my favorite new bands that I discovered this year. 

Now I don't mean new as in "they released their debut album this year", because believe it or not the Vintersorg guys have been making music since 1994 and they released their first album Hedniskhjartad (Paganhead in English) in 1998.  But as in "I had never heard of these guys until this year" kind of new. 

Now you may be wondering what these guys have been doing since 1994? Well they've been busy producing their own unique blend of folk metal and black metal, much like some of the recent Fintroll releases.  Most of the time Vintersorg sings their songs in their native Swedish language, but a few of their albums released in the 2000s, Cosmic Genesis, Visions from the Spiral Generator, and The Focusing Blur, found the band shifting from singing in Swedish about pagan topics, to now singing in English and focusing the topics towards astronomy and cosmology.  In 2007 the band went back to what they do best, which is release their brand of Swedish folk metal with their album Solens Rotter (Roots of the Sun in English) and that is the formula they have stuck with since. 

The two masterminds behind Vintersorg are Andreas Hedlund, aka Mr. Vintersorg, who handles the songwriting process as well as the vocals, some guitars, and keyboards, as well as programming in other instruments they don't play (like drums although they do use session drummers for their live shows, and being a drummer I am ok with this especially because the music is so good!), and Mattias Marklund who also does some guitar work.  These two have crafted some of the catchiest music I have ever heard and their 8th release Orkan is a perfect example of that.  Each song is just as catchy as the one that came before it, with the catchiest being the title track "Orkan."  The songs starts with a majestic piano tune that puts the listener on a ship sailing a vast ocean, and makes them ask the question "what just came on my iPod?" then around 0:27 the rest of the band comes in accompanied by a fierce growl by Hedlund and the listener suddenly answers their own question "Ahh yes, some epic Swedish folk metal", or if you are new to the band the question becomes "ok what the heck just came on my iPod?!"  The song continues with the band alternating between clean and growled vocals accompanied by crunchy guitars and a fitting orchestral background.  Not to mention the hook, which comes in around 1:18, is one of the catchiest hooks I've heard in a song, and I can't understand what they're saying! After one listen it had me chanting the lyrics in Swedish (even though I wasn't sure how to pronounce it, but I did my best).  Its one of those songs that after first listen you sit there for a few seconds, collect yourself, and immediately play it again!

Here is a video for "Orkan" 

Like I said before, the whole album is like this, each song is just as catchy as the one that came before it.  The band alternates between singing clean and using growl vocals as the listener is transported to an epic world accompanied by crunchy guitars and orchestral backgrounds.  

Overall if you are a fan of folk metal and don't mind not being able to understand what the singer is saying (unless of course you speak Swedish).  Then you need to give Vintersorg a listen, their catchy hooks and impressive musicianship and songwriting can appeal to even the casual metal listener.  I highly recommend starting with their new release Orkan.  It's definitely my favorite CD of theirs and is a must have for any fan of folk metal.  

Thanks guys! 

-Zach 

Remember if there is a band you want me to talk about or an album you want me to review, leave a comment below or tweet me @zachktheanimal.