Over the Binding of the Waves

This review is for the Folkvang side of this split. I've wrote one for the Wodensthrone side also.

Folkvang are not a band I was familiar with before picking up this split based on the strengh of Wodensthrone's debut album; Loss. The short of it is on the strength of this outing Folkvang is a project I will be paying much more attention to in the future.

As you'd expect from a band accompanying Wodensthrone on a split, Folkvang play a minimilisitic style of Black Metal infused with elements of folk and spun of a specifically depressive angle. Taking obvious cues from Burzum and Drudkh (the intro is overlayed with the sound of rain) Folkvang peddle an extremely derivative but satisfying sound. The riffs seem to scream EPIC SORROW at you as there played giving the impression of mourning widows, defeated armies, bloodstained wastelands. Any of this sound familiar?

This Belarus based one man project has probably it's most favourable comparison with October Falls, a Finnish one man project (kind of). It's in this company that Folkvang makes the best impression, providing a cleaner, more melodic take on the Hvis Lyset Tar Oss which Burzum pioneered and Drudkh perfected. So can Folkvang be seen, on the basis of this outing, as anything more than a more listener friendly version of these two bands? No.

If I'm honest Folkvang do nothing new and even lack some componants which make there stable mates so appealing. Varg has better riffs, Roman has better solos, fuck it Roman HAS solos! Folkvang are not going to change the musical landscape of anyone familiar with any of the Black Metal acts listed here, or indeed many others.

But the point is as much as Folkvang do not on this CD reach those lofty heights, their side of the split is still enjoyable, the closing track 'Aryjski Sturm' is something of a belter and certainly the highlight (even if that is because it sounds the closest Folkvang get to Burzum). Folkvang has produced some really very respectable, and enjoyable music here. Just be aware that is this is a genre you're familiar with, they're not likely to set your world on fire.