Sade et Masoch

FINALLY after searching high and low, I have obtained a hard copy of this album. I must say, it was well worth all of the trouble. I first heard Fjoergyn about two years ago with a couple tracks off their previous album, “Ernte Im Herbst”. My first initial reaction to this band was, could it get any better than this? Well, 2007 rolled around with this gem and to answer my question, yes it can get better.

First I’m going to start with the album’s artwork. Fjoergyn have come back with yet another strange album cover, that I don’t quite understand. The apple with the wings, the scar, and I believe worms to be inside of it looks cool, but your casual Viking metal listener would probably look right over this band just because of the obscure album cover. But as they always say, never judge a book by it’s cover. I myself think the album cover is cool, definitely something original. There’s probably some kind of nature significance behind it, but I’m not exactly sure since I’m not too fluent in German.

Now, before I get the music itself, let me just say the production is phenomenal. I was really expecting something less than the last album as far as production quality go, but it just got way better. I will say all of the instruments and vocals are well mixed as well, whoever was behind the recording controls was on top of their game.

Now, onto the actual music. The music is epic, beautiful, and is full of fantastic melodies. I don’t think you could ask for much more. I’d have to say what really stands out music wise for me, has to be the soothing intricate piano parts, just hearing that piano puts me in a state of trance while hearing Stephan L’s chilling whispering vocals over them. Another thing that really struck me was the subtle humppa parts that are thrown in the mix. It really compliments the whole Viking/folk feeling of the album, it also reminds of some of KromleK’s stuff.

So overall, Fjoergyn have outdone themselves. I didn’t think it could get better than “Ernte Im Herbst”, but I was very wrong. I can see Fjoergyn getting bigger in the future if they keep this trend up. So if you’re looking for some great epic Viking/folk metal, that sounds very KromleK and Equilibrium sounding, check out Fjoergyn’s new album “Sade et Masoch”.