I think it's the riffs- sure, this isn't the heaviest album ever and it would be nice if they occasionally really went for the throat. I mean this isn't Cascadian Black Metal, but it's probably a close enough relative. Interesting to reflect on what makes this good when stuff like Skagos, Ashbringer, Wolves in the Throne Room etc. Great when driving through forests, that sort of stuff. I get that it's a bit wanky, a bit vague to go on about how this album brings forth all these images of dudes on fjords, watching the aurora and eating putrefied shark in the middle of winter, but it's hard to deny that it's a pretty evocative old album. Just cool, proggy/folky noodles which mix it up with big, kinda stoner-y doom riffs and a decent amount of Bergtatt/Pale Folklore thrown on top, with an atmosphere that's thicker than Venus. What I like about this album is that it's full of long form, ambitious songwriting- 7 songs, 1 hour- but it never drags, never feels forced, there's no "eat your veges before you get dessert" approach. may have a confusing full stop in its' title, everything else about it is pretty freakin prime. I know it's perhaps not the most exciting review when it's just full of gushing praise but sometimes it's warranted- these guys are a real good band, and while V. ![]() In the end, The Flight Of Sleipnir is a nice, fresh breeze through the world of Scandinavian folklore inspired metal and certainly stand out.For whatever reason I'd forgotten about the fantastic 'Saga' album that these guys dropped a few years back, but shuffle on itunes is one great ol' thing and here I am, back on the bandwagon of one of the most sorely underrated bands going around. The songs could have had a lot more depth, if the mix of the album had been better. Unfortunately the recording itself stays a little flat. ![]() The band perfectly balances different atmospheric settings calm acoustic instrumental parts to blast beats, a calm atmospheric sound to raging guitars and soft clean vocals to dirty growls. ![]() The majority of the vocals on the album remind me of a garage recording of some underground Black Metal band they’re very raw and dirty, which I like because it gives a nice touch to the music. Gullveig for example has a more psychedelic sound, where Archaic Rites has more folky influences. The majority of the songs are build up like this, though all with different influences. The song starts slowly and easily builds up to a climax that set your teeth on edge. Opening track ‘Headwinds’ immediately sets tune for most of the songs of the album. There is a lot of variation in this album going from a more Classic Rock all the way to a Melodic Death Metal sound, which make it hard for the listener to get bored. Some folky influences can be found in the music though, but the Stoner/Doom sounds dominates this album. The Flight Of Sleipnir definitely doesn’t follow the masses when it comes to Scandinavian Folklore inspired music, which make them truly stand out. Now I don’t want to bash an entire metal genre, because there truly is a lot of good Folk Metal around, but I’m happy this isn’t the millionth typical ‘happy flute, bagpipe and way too loud violin band’. ![]() I already soon found out that the Folk elements on this album are mainly lyrical, and I must say that I find this a relief. V is the fifth full length album being brought into this world by Colorado based band The Flight Of Sleipnir and the first to be released on Napalm Records. But when I read that they were a mixture of Stoner Rock, Doom and Folk Metal I got interested because this is a rather unusual combination of metal genres. When I received the promo of this album, I was totally unfamiliar with The Flight of Sleipnir.
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