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Rating: Encountering a new release from Vintersorg is a bit like meeting an old friend after several years. Life experiences have changed him, but deep down, he remains the same person, someone you care about a lot.
So it is with "Jordpuls", released a good four years after the penultimate "Solens Rötter" (a small note, soon DeBaser will have reviews for ALL of mr. V.'s albums), we find ourselves facing both novelties and confirmations.
"Jordpuls" continues on the neo-acoustic lines already traced by its predecessor, marking a third era (the neo-acoustic one) in the sonic evolution of the duo: Heavy guitars and more melodic passages like in the best viking tradition, yet with an eye on progressive in all its forms. However, certain constants never leave the group's sound, certain keyboard loops, the drum machine, and the somewhat monotonous growl of Andreas Hedlund. As for the lyrics, nature and more nature, certain rhymes seem familiar, then the typical structure of Vintersorg songs (verse-verse-chorus-break-chorus).
The novelties, at first glance, are not so pronounced, at least compared to "Solens Rötter"; however, the new songs are much more essential and direct, presenting an immediacy of times gone by, those of "Ödemarkens son". They don't sound very similar, yet beneath the pulsing earth hides the son of Ödenmark, reminding us of itself more and more as the listens increase.
In short, we find a truly inspired Vintersorg, able to silence all those who had dismissed the Swede as "washed up" after his far from thrilling performance on Borknagar's Universal.
From the dizzying rhythm changes of Världstattes fanfär, featuring a heart-melting atmospheric melodic break, to the (apparently) raw Mörk nebulosa, with its gripping and immediately engaging verse. From the rustic Klippor och Skör to the mysterious Skogen sover, continuing with the dramatic Palisader and fading into the sweet Eld Och lågor, a gripping ending in the wake of mega-classics like The enigmatic spirit or Star-guarded coronation.
Welcome back, mister V.
7.5
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By vlkodlak
What emerges is another album of undeniable charm and musical value, but it also results in a work not too inspired compositionally.
More than one thought that Andreas Hedlund’s vocals were experiencing a decline, and these impressions would be confirmed by the subsequent Borknagar album, Universal.
