Vintersorg - Solens Rötter review
| Band: | Vintersorg |
| Album: | Solens Rötter |
| Style: | Black metal, Folk metal, Progressive metal |
| Release date: | April 27, 2007 |
| A review by: | Dream Taster |
01. Döpt I En Jökelsjö
02. Perfektionisten
03. Spirar Och Gror
04. Kosmosaik
05. Idétemplet
06. Naturens Mystär
07. Att Bygga En Ruin
08. Strålar
09. Från Materia Till Ande
10. Vad Aftonvindens Andning Viskar
Andreas Hedlund [a.k.a. Vintersorg] has found his way back home with the release of Vintersorg' sixth full-length album entitled Solens Rötter (Origins of the Sun). After three years spent in different musical projects, namely Borknagar, Cronian and Waterclime, he reunited with fellow bandmate Mattias Marklund to explore somewhat of a return to their core sound with a new, more mature approach to melody acquired from his musings with his solo project, Waterclime.
From the start, the accent has been put on the folk aspect of their music rather than the crazed hallucinogenic out-of-space progressive content present in the trilogy of previous albums. Browsing through the track titles, it does not take long to realize that all songs on the album are in Swedish, something that had not happened since 1999's Ödemarkens Son. With that in mind, the band also cut off Steve Di Giorgio [bass] and Asgeir Mickelson [drums] from the recording line-up. But fear not, power remains omnipresent on Solens Rötter as obvious from the opening track "Döpt I En Jökelsjö" onward.
The several voices of Vintersorg are filling the song structures nicely as usual. However, what makes this album stand out in their discography is the easiness of bringing memorable melodies into the main musical build. This is achieved with Andreas' unique voice and the use of acoustic guitars and other folk elements.
Arguably the catchiest record of theirs, Solens Rötter is another Vintersorg great album but it might disappoint some hard-core fans who were expecting more out of their experimentation phase. But when all is said and done, Solens Rötter is a surprisingly fresh release in their discography. With the emphasis on folk elements, the Swedish lyrics all the way through and overall grand song-writing, the album breaks the circle created by the three previous albums, takes a look back at the past and opens a new window into the future.
Highlights: The beautiful ballad "Strålar" and the phenomenally catchy duo made of "Från Materia Til Ande" & "Spirar Och Gror".
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
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Written on 29.06.2008 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as: "A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?" I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math. |
Comments
Comments: 10
Visited by: 159 users
| ylside Staff Posts: 4751  |
Excellent album by Vintersorg. I've been listening to it for quite some time now. 9/10 ! 
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
Awesome titles  anybody wants me to translate the titles, send me a PM
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| Hyvaarin Posts: 1487  |
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| Dominus The Shooter Posts: 375  |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Good album, almost disappointed me.. but its Vintersorg after all 
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Janne Hugin Posts: 1721  |
I don't know their early stuff but this album is great! I had to listen to it many times to realise that though 
----  -FOLK METAL HUNGARY-
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| silenius Posts: 532  |
One of my favorite albums of all time, just keeps growing with each listen
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| Luneth Account deleted |
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| Zadion Posts: 101  |
This is such an underrated album; it seems like the average Vintersorg fan hates it. But man, it's so good. "Döpt i en jökelsjö" is the best song Vintersorg has under his name.
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
As a fan I can't say I hate any of their albums, although I have been tending to listen to their most recent releases much more often than those of their experimentation phase, and their earlier ones even less. This album in particular represents a bridging album in my view; experimentation was still very much a large part of the way Vintersorg approached things, but not pulled off here to such unusual results as albums like the previous "The Focusing Blur," which is certainly one of the strangest in their discography, especially in the vocals. They not only start to toy more with the neoclassical sound on this one, but use it more as a primary basis for their tunes, and explore it in such depth that it becomes a clearer element of their style. I feel this approach comes to dominate the way they've been writing their songs ever since, which is what I like best about Jordpuls and Orkan, that and the smoother sense of melody and vocal work. Plus they drop most (not all on Solens Rötter) of those "spacey" elements from this album onward. As was mentioned in this review, it's very much a return to focusing on the folk aspect in their metal, with a noticeable recurrence of the black metal influence to their sound in the albums following this one.
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