Gylfaginning

Oakenshield is a one-man project from the UK, playing epic/viking metal with folk elements, so there’s no surprise in that I’ve gotten interested in this project as a fan of this genre. Besides, it’s always exciting to hear a band playing in a musical style which is unusual in its home country. And above all, Ben Corkhill, the sole member of Oakenshield was so young (15 yo) when he established the former version of the current project in 2004, which was called Nifelhel. After an unsuccessful try and 2 released demos, he changed name while he was working with the Gylfaginning demo, the harbinger of his first full-length. So I’m holding his debut album in my hands now, and if I didn't know about the circumstances, I would say without doubt that this is a record of a well-known professional band.

The lookout is really fascinating, the booklet is beautiful with nice graphics, it’s simply great. And if you just take a look on the cover, the band’s name and logo, the name of the tracks and the lyrics, you can almost describe Oakenshield’s music, and after listening Gylfaginning, you will affirm that your intuition was correct. Despite its variety, the music never passes the genre’s boundaries, Oakenshield stays strictly on its self-imposed path, but he makes benefit from it, because of this, the record becomes consistent and whirling. I say whirling although the record isn’t fast, the tempo moves within the range of the epic-slow and the mid-tempo, but maybe this is why it has a very special and moving atmosphere.

Oakenshield’s music is usually compared to Falkenbach, and surely, there are similarities beside that both are one-man projects and both plays metal with folk/epic/viking elements, but I think, Corkhill’s music has a bit different tone. In my opinion the mood of the main elements here is less hymnic but has a more floating feeling, and more complex elements can be heard in the guitar leads – the construction of the songs sometimes a bit similar to Tyr’s. Featuring the violin and the flute was a really great idea, it makes the music more varied, some of these parts remind me the slower themes of the Danish folkstar-newcomers Svartsot. Although the violin was recorded by a guest musician, except that all instruments and vocals were performed by Ben, and what can I say, he did a great job. He’s got a nice voice either, both the harsh vocals and the choir vocals are really good. Honestly, firstly I took this record with a grain of salt because of the drum-machine, I thought that its rude sound could ruin the atmosphere, but fortunately it doesn’t, the record has a good sound in general, and the drum-machine’s sound isn’t bothering at all.

The overall image is more than hopeful, it’s a really nice, professional work. I cannot mention any song as a highlight, because this album is so smooth. The atmoshpere is strong, and this record is surely at the same level with other well-known releases in this genre. This is their debut, so it was just the first well-made step to win renown, and I think, it was a success. If you favor viking and folk elements within metal, or if you just want to go on an hour-long epic journey to the atmosphere of the norse mythology, then Gylfaginning is recommended for you.

( Originally written for http://kronosmortus.hu )