Utmarken is a Swedish folk metal band fronted by singer and main composer Mathias Gyllengahm, and "Förfallstid" is their second studio album. For some reason I missed out on their debut, but I will surely check it out after having heard this masterpiece. Through the lyrics the listener is dragged onto a magical journey through Swedish nature and history wrapped into the most beautiful folk metal tunes imaginable. You...

It's not a big secret that I've always been a huge Vintersorg fan, and I consider every single album in their discography pure quality. With that said, I must add that the first two albums, not counting the Hedniskhjärtad EP, had this indefineable magical atmosphere that still make them my go-to Vintersorg albums. Some of the later albums had more complex song structures and way better production, but even...

As always when a new Vintersorg album arrives it’s just like Christmas eve at my place, I’ve been a huge fan of this guy’s work and talent way back since the release of the amazing ‘Till Fjälls’ album in ’98. Ok, there was a period that I wasn’t too happy about the direction the music took with a bit too much flirting with progressive rock and English lyrics, but...

Vratyas Vakyas strikes again with his one-man folk/black metal project Falkenbach. Since the formation in 1989 Falkenbach have released five studio albums and a bunch of demos previous to this new one entitled ‘Asa’. While his previous effort, ‘Tiurida’, didn’t quite live up to my expectations ‘Asa’ sees Falkenbach back on track again and in my opinion it contains some of his best work to date. The mixture of...

Frosttide is a relatively new band, formed in Juäskylä, Finland in 2009. They have released two EP´s ahead of ´Awakening´ which is their debut full length album. Frosttide likes to describe their style as melodic folk metal but there are elements of both melodic death metal and symphonic black metal incorporated into their sound as well. I would have guessed that this was a Finnish band even...

The masters of "humppa" metal are back with the successor to their acclaimed 2010 release 'Nifelvind'. 'Blodsvept' showes Finntroll from a sligtly rawer side and the production is a bit less polished than on the previous album. The "humppa" still plays a dominant role in the sound, but theres also some more atmospheric folk elements included so secure a good contrast to the otherwise raw and brutal expression that...