Wongraven
Fjelltronen

A lesser-known side/solo project by Sigurd Wongraven (Satyr of Satyricon for those who don't know), which I believe was left unfinished, "Fjelltronen" is a brief moment of apparent calm that leaves the listener either terribly bored or enchanted by the visions it manages to evoke. It is airy music, Ambient to be precise, but with strong Folkloristic elements that make it less burdensome to listen to.

The lineup comprises, besides Satyr, none other than Ihsahn. The former handles all instruments and vocal parts except for the piano and synthesizer, which are indeed managed by the Emperor's jack-of-all-trades. The third, Hans Sørensen, handles the very secondary percussion (mostly timpani). For the rest, it's about 32 minutes of vocalizations and hymns supported by motives that, in my opinion, are very well crafted. In the end, it is an ambient album; it is rare to describe the technique in this type of music. The first track, "Det Var En Gang Et Menneske", on its own is worth half the album, as it slowly unfolds through its 16 minutes and 33 seconds, passing between moments of pronounced epic sense, to vast landscapes of long-note keyboards, to acoustic arpeggios that lead through paths of lost villages accompanied by bells. All of this is interspersed with very soft timpani notes, which perhaps could have been more prominent. But still, I do not think it's so unpleasant as it is, this first half of Fjelltronen. The fade-out transition carries us into "Over ødemark", which through gusts of wind between the snow-capped peaks of very high mountains, lays us on a muffled piano that insists on a catchy little tune that progresses slowly in speed and surprising vocalizations, considering that they are performed by Satyr... "Opp Under Fjellet Toner En Sang" is a very brief interlude governed by a sweet little organ. Subsequently, the fourth track manages without the "heroic" chants typical of the first half of the work. And it seems that Ihsahn is greatly inspired by his old bassist Mortiis in composing this piece, "Tiden Er En Stenlagt Grav", which indeed seems borrowed from "The Crypt Of The Wizard". It all ends after 8 minutes proceeding directly into the final track, "Fra Fjelltronen", which finishes this work epically, which, I repeat, seems incomplete as it is to me, perhaps because it is too short, or maybe too predictable.
In any case, I don't think it will hurt anyone to listen to this half-hour, as it is either appreciated for its imaginary landscape journeys or erased after 5 minutes due to the boredom it might cause.