Music

Album Review: Finntroll’s ‘Nifelvind’

Published

14 years ago

March 24, 2010

It’s a bad habit of mine that when I listen to music, I envision locations and scenarios in which the music I’m listening to might take place. Well, maybe it isn’t a bad habit, but it certainly is a habit that affects how I listen to music. I can’t help it, certain tones or sounds immediately conjure up a setting and then I’m stuck. Such is the case with ‘Nifelvind’, the sixth studio album from Finntroll. A few songs into the album and I was convinced that I was listening to the soundtrack of a twisted medieval carnival. This image stuck with me through the entire album and gave me some interesting mental imagery to say the least.

To those of you who haven’t listened to Finntroll yet, these Finnish metallers combine extreme/black metal with traditional folk progressions and instruments. This makes for some very unique rhythms and melodies that one would not normally associate with the metal genre. ‘Nifelvind’ is never lacking in either of these.

‘Nifelvind’ is an incredibly interesting album to listen to. The mixture of folk with metal is unmistakable and sometimes, though the track is extremely heavy, it feels like a folk song with the distortion turned up (check out ‘Ett Norrskensdad’ for a good example of this). There are almost always huge symphonic melodies being played behind the metal. However, because there is so much going on at once, the production suffers a bit in that it can get somewhat muddy and hard to distinguish one instrument from another.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the playing is tight and the overall sound quality is very high. The instruments are crisp and direct without being overbearing or piercing. It’s a joy to hear some of the more “traditional” instruments blending in with the electric guitars, such as in the acoustic ‘Galgasang’. But, in many of the other tracks, there is almost always layer after layer of instrumentation going on at once that becomes very tiring to try and dissect.

Overall, ‘Nifelvind’ is fun, frenzied album that will satisfy the needs of someone who loves mixing their metal with a Renaissance festival.

4 out of 5 skulls

JonathanBarkan

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…