Finntroll - Nifelvind review
| Band: | Finntroll |
| Album: | Nifelvind |
| Style: | Extreme folk metal |
| Release date: | February 17, 2010 |
| A review by: | Baz Anderson |
Disc I
01. Blodmarsch (Intro)
02. Solsagan
03. Den Frusna Munnen
04. Ett Norrskensdåd
05. I Trädens Sång
06. Tiden Utan Tid
07. Galgasång
08. Mot Skuggornas Värld
09. Under Bergets Rot
10. Fornfamnad
11. Dråp
12. Under Dvärgens Fot [limited edition bonus]
Disc II [Limited tour edition]
01. Insects [Oingo Boingo cover]
02. Can You Forgive Her? [Pet Shop Boys cover]
03. The God That Failed [Metallica cover]
The trolls are back and have never sounded so comfortable in their own skin. Nifelvind is album number five, and once again shows another step in the direction of complete musical freedom. This is an album where chaos is summoned and fit into place to form a well-rounded and quirky piece of work to remember.
Nifelvind is one of those kitchen sink albums where every idea, no matter how weird was kept and used in some way. Each song on the album has it's own separate identity, be it an up-beat, sing-along folk metal classic such as "Under Bergets Rot", acoustic troll encounter "Galgasång", or Finntroll almost oriental style with "Ett Norrskensdåd". Slower, heavier songs meet with black metal pandemonium, but whatever the style, you're always going to find some weird and wonderful instrument accompanying it somewhere along the line.
This album is more Finntroll than ever before, and you're never going to be short of material to sing, drink, chant or headbang to. This is extreme folk metal with a difference, Nifelvind is extremely varied and diverse, and is enjoyable in a far more gratifying and indulgent way than the majority of bands in the now stale and unimaginative folk metal scene. Nifelvind is an extremely earthy album, you'll feel filthy by the end but will have enjoyed it all the same. This is the soundtrack to troll life; you can almost imagine a maddening journey through an endless cave to the brilliant "I Trädens Sang".
The band are on top form, and Vreth has come into his own element now sounding a vital and intrinsic part of the band. With Nifelvind, Finntroll have released an album that is not immediately catchy or gimmicky, but given time to get your head your head around, this more than puts Finntroll back on the genre's throne with an extremely rewarding album to enjoy. More than ever, Finntroll have evolved into a band playing their own unique form of extreme folk metal music, as opposed to a band simply playing a style of music.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 9 |
Comments
| Valaskjalf Account deleted |
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| Overlord_PT Posts: 140  |
Indeed, the album is very good, only one not so good song (the third one)
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| arj Posts: 191 |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Not that good at all. Its an ok folk metal work, not even close to some of Finntroll early works... a less catchy album, which is definetly what im NOT looking in a folk metal album.
----  ---- 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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| Valaskjalf Account deleted |
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| RiouxMax Posts: 124 |
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642  |
Only thing I'm worried about is the vocals on this album, their new vocalist is pretty bad.
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| Valaskjalf Account deleted |
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| fade Son of Sweden Staff Posts: 3771  |
A true fresh breath of Trollish air....
---- The troubles of avoiding horseshit. My Music database: http://www.racksandtags.com/northernsky/
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| visiblenoise Posts: 72 |
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| EarlHaakon Posts: 2  |
Nifelvind is awesome. I didn't find it that good at the first listening but after listening it throught couple of times it opened up and it's just awesome. And Vreth is a great vocalist!
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| Uller Posts: 498  |
Written by EarlHaakon on 26.02.2010 at 00:32 Same to me, the first time that i listen to it, i said meeh ok..., but after a couple of times i culdnt stop laughing and dancing to this awesome album, specially the last 4 songs makes me thing about a haunted house in a swamp or so. Great album, but im agree 9(brilliant) is to much, i gave it an 8 (very good)
---- 
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| schwanderen Posts: 32 |
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| MétalNoir Fils du Lys Posts: 847  |
 This sucks, I can't even find this album anywhere... I've been waiting for so long, damn. Anyway, I agree their dark era is very good, IMO much better than pre-Ur Jordens Djup albums, which were mostly bad (Nattfod fucking sucks). And Vreth is definitely their best vocalist to date. The original one sounded weird and Tapio was just bad.
---- Notre destinée n'est pas encore tracée....
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642 |
Written by visiblenoise on 25.02.2010 at 21:30 I dunno, I'm going to have to politely disagree. I think their vocalist lacks the fun attributes in his voice while i also don't think his more blackened style fits with their music, at least from Ur Jordens Djup, havent listened to Nifelvind yet though.
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| regallmigthy Posts: 16  |
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| deathead Posts: 1 |
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| the stranger Posts: 398  |
Never been a Finntroll fan, but this album is really good, not excellent or great.
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| skatmat Posts: 24  |
Absolutely one of their bests. I was very happy to hear this refreshing sound, i think it would've been boring if they would have sounded just like before. And Mathias' voice has developed so much. This is a masterpiece. It takes a bit longer time to get into the songs than before, and I love that, it makes it much more interesting.
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| White Winter Sun Laboratory's Rat Elite Posts: 2198  |
Finally I bought it, and I have no regrets. Nifelvind is a pretty solid album. By the way, nice review Barry.
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| Jiri Posts: 710  |
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| Necrodamus Posts: 435  |
Great review, good album. My personal fav will always be Nattfodd, though.
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| akvan Posts: 186  |
Nifelvind is my god 
---- Think about it . Every generation gets some new frontier to tackle . Einstein got relativity , The Nasa cowboys got the moon . All the easy stuff is taken , Artificial consciousness is the next frontier !
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| Mitch0002 Posts: 7 |
This was my 1st Folk Metal cd and not gonna lie, I belive this deserves Album of the Year, at least in my opinion, i love this album 
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| elseif Posts: 96  |
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| Growing Posts: 90  |
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| Grody2themax Posts: 240  |
When I first listened to this album last year, I was wondering why I had even bought it. However, ever since Ive always been perplexed at why I didn't see anything in it the first time I listened to it. It took me a little while to fully understand it and see the creativity in it. In terms of folk metal, its definitely one of my favorites.
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| Parasomnia Posts: 50  |
Written by RiouxMax on 25.02.2010 at 20:02 +1
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