Band:	The Flight Of Sleipnir
Album:	Nature's Cadence
Style:	Doom metal, Folk metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	September 27, 2024
A review by:	RaduP

01. North
02. Madness
03. Vingthor
04. The Woodsman
05. Wanderer

The Flight Of Sleipnir used to release a new album almost every year, but now they've spaced out their release schedule significantly, so I can't blame anyone for not being familiar with them, and not knowing about how black, folk, and doom metal have been merged by them.

Like musclassia before me I also found out about The Flight Of Sleipnir through one of Apothecary's reviews of their old albums from back when there was a new one every year, and to this day the most distinguishing fact about them is the genre combination. The fact that they're absolutely amazing at writing songs within that genre combination, somehow came later, but that's something for later. Blends of black and folk and doom have been done before, but there still was something that felt very specific about this brand of pagan folk, this brand of stoner doom, and this brand of melodic black metal being in the same concoction together, and The Flight Of Sleipnir carved a place in my long-term memory just based on the specificity of that blend.

The blend didn't stay the same all throughout the band's career, with some parts of the band's sound being more dominant on various albums, the earlier albums exhibiting more of the stoner rock side than later ones, while Eventide pushed the black metal further to the front than any previous album did. I'm sure someone with a lot more time on their hands could chart out the share of each of these elements, but that would be an exercise in futility due to how one of The Flight Of Sleipnir's greatest strengths is not sounding disjointed despite the wide array of sounds. Whether combining or alternating them, everything in a The Flight Of Sleipnir song flows so naturally and organically that it's almost like these sounds have been together for eons.

Just like Eventide, Nature's Cadence also keeps a stronger black metal presence than its predecessors, while also having some of the fuzz on the doomy side diminished. There's still a pretty distinct stoner-ish fuzz present in some of the riffing, but it's also a type of doom that takes quite a bit from post-rock that is present, infusing a very distinct sense of grandeur. Agalloch have long been a point of comparison for the band, as it would be the case for any band mixing black, folk, and post elements, but there's a distinctly Americana nuance to the folk this time around, and me becoming more aware of the Gothic Country sound since the last time I heard a The Flight Of Sleipnir album, I feel like that sound is present in the album's folk side more so than on any previous records, making it so that Wayfarer also became a more relevant point of comparison than Agalloch.

Of course, there is something more important than what exactly what sounds go into the album, but rather how strong the album is. All the genre mambo jambo would be for nothing if it wasn't for the band's ability to be so immersive and engaging with their sound. The Flight Of Sleipnir is not Agalloch. The Flight Of Sleipnir is not Wayfarer. The Flight Of Sleipnir is The Flight Of Sleipnir.