Band:	Vintersorg
Album:	Cosmic Genesis
Style:	Black metal, Folk metal
Release date:	November 03, 2000
Guest review by:	Luneth

01. Astral And Arcane
02. Algol
03. A Dialogue With The Stars
04. Cosmic Genesis
05. Om Regnbagen Matererialiserades
06. Avs Memorativa
07. Rainbow Demon [Uriah Heep cover]
08. Naturens Galleri
09. The Enigmatic Spirit

Vintersorg is a very interesting band to be sure, originally the band started out as the solo project of virtuoso Andreas "Vintersorg" Hedlund and after many years and various stylistic changes, here we are. Cosmic Genesis, which was released in the year 2000, is the culmination of Hedlund's musical creativity; being labelled as a Black Folk album (think Falkenbach) all songs on it have a very heavy sound with Hedlund's famous screams prevalent throughout. What makes this album so special is the mix of progressive elements that help the songs stray away from the common criticism of "all black metal songs sounding the same."

What really grabbed my attention before even listening to any songs, was the album art. In the background there is a luminescent lighting that seems to resemble the Northern Lights. In addition, there is an ancient wizard type character behind an incredibly ambiguous wheel, which to this day, I've yet to understand. These pictures really emphasize the scientific nature of the album. It can be semantically deduced from the track titles that this album is about the struggle between magical spirits and entities of the cosmos.

Now, onto the music itself, the album kick starts with the energetic "Astral and Arcane" which tells us, in a nutshell, we are going to be dealing with space and magic; two incredibly oxymoronic themes. This song highlights Hedlund's incredible songwriting ability as he essentially creates three personas for himself which gives him a chance to demonstrate his vocal range, with a combination of clean and screaming vocals. Remaining consistent with Vintersorg's folk roots, themes such as the moon possessing magical properties are prevalent.

The album title track "Cosmic Genesis," the longest and arguably most progressive track, acts as a lengthy interlude of sorts in which the cosmic genocide occurs, keyboards are predominant on this track and help set the scene beautifully and keep the track interesting with some subtle melodies. The theme of rebirth is illustrated in the succeeding track "Om Regnbågen Materialiserades" [sung fully in Swedish] which loosely translates as "If the rainbow materialized."

Cosmic Genesis is an incredibly complex creation, it requires a lot of thought and contemplation to recognize that the first few tracks up until "Cosmic Genesis" are essentially the battle in the cosmos and its ultimate destruction, while the second half of the album is essentially the rebirth of the cosmos and more specifically, Earth. The impressive "Astral and Arcane," "Naturens Galleri," and "Ars Memorativa" are standout tracks. This is an essential album for any fan of folk, black or even progressive metal.