Ödemarkens son

It's hard for me to define Vintersorg; in this album at least, it's a mix of folk, black, and viking metal, but it's not progressive metal either, to me, it sounds a lot like Twilight of the Gods-era Bathory. Even though I can't understand shit from the lyrics, one thing I am sure, and it is that Vintersorg can sing quite well! "Ödemarkens Son" was probably the last album to have so many black metal elements, but they're not abused; in fact, it's pretty natural how the guitars sometimes make a standard black metal 'wall of sound' below the verses, with clean vocals and "standard" drumming over everything.

The album begins with "När Alver Sina Runor Sjungit", yeah, it's a pretty weird up name, but I guess it makes sense in Swedish. It starts with a very black metallish tone, with blast beats and tremolo'd notes, but with clean vocals over everything; and there's a clean part that makes this album "folk/black", though, their definition of folk in his case is mostly the song structures, and some acoustic instruments, but except for 2 songs, there are no violins or folky instruments to be found. In "När Alver Sina Runor Sjungit", the vocal melodies are quite catchy, even if you can't sing them; but the singing is pretty epic, and it really reminds me of a more refined Quorthon! The opener is just very damn huge in itself, and it's one of the main highlights. The whole album ranges from a very epic viking/folk metal vibe, to a more standard black metal tone in some parts; a very good example is "Svältvinter", which starts very folky, then turns heavy, and near the end at 3:30 there are some growled vocals, followed by female vocals, and then there's this verse of "Utmärglade, halögda, med bukar som rämnar", I don't know what the fuck does that mean, but it's sung with such passion that I often find myself trying to mutter words for it.

Ödemarkens Son is pretty consistent, there are mostly no bad songs in it; but the problem is that when the album progresses, songs start sounding very similar. Not in their structure, but the fact that their overall feeling sounds pretty much the same; some epic parts, some acoustic parts, some black metal parts, etc. It doesn’t help the fact that I can’t understand the lyrics, but that isn’t so much of an issue, maybe if most songs didn’t move at similar tempos, and some songs like the title track tend to drag on a little bit, that one specially could be at least 1:30 shorter. The album changes its mood during “Trollbunden”, which is a very cool acoustic interlude with synths, and in the middle there’s a very nice piano part; however, it’s just an interlude, that evolves into “Offerbacken”, which has a clean vocals chorus near the mid that is incredibly catchy, right at 1:56! I think I can hear some flutes and even a fiddle behind the guitars—Again a folky sound, and after that there’s an almost thrashy riff, and that lick at 2:49 is specially cool, which is followed by drums and starts fading away slowly, and then bangs again to the chorus again, and since that is so goddamn catchy, I’d say “Offerbacken” is the best song in here!

“I Den Trolska Dalens Hjärta” follows, and it has pretty damn epic verses, the standard that this album has already set, but then the song picks up at 3:04 with a very speed metallish riff, and a very subtle keyboard/fiddle/random folk instrument behind, and there’s a little solo at the end, but it, similarly to the rest of Ödemarkens Son, is kinda overlong. The album closes with “På Landet”, which is the folkiest song in here, and it’s very mid paced, although it’s very boring, and at least it doesn’t do anything for me.

Vintersorg’s second full-length is pretty good, although it’s not perfect; it’s sort of overlong, and the songs sound very similar, especially in their tempo. However, it’s not bad, and I think it’s worth checking out, songs like the opener, “Offerbäcken” or “Svältvinter” make it worth it, but it does go through it’s up and downs during its whole duration!