Unearthed: Valfreya.

I've decided that when I discover new (or new to me) bands I'm going to flag the post as "unearthed".  It sounds cooler than "OMG LOOKIT THIS NEW BAND I FOUND"

(from their MySpace page, which you can find here)

I'd like to introduce you to Valfreya, a Viking metal band from Montréal, Canada.  They just released a brand new album entitled 'Path to Eternity'.  I'd describe their sound as symphonic black metal, for the most part.  This is from their 2010 EP 'First Chronicles'.  See if you agree.

Valfreya - "Inferno"

That girl has some serious black metal chops right there.  Now as you know, I'm not always fond of "symphonic" stuff in my metal (I don't HATE it, it's just not my favourite) but here I find it unobtrusive and inoffensive.  Now, something from their new album:

Valfreya - "Alefest"

I'm a sucker for songs about beer.  It's a bit more folky than the previous track, but still nice and pummely and I am really enjoying Miss 'Crook' coring out my ear canals with her banshee screech.  In fact I'm enjoying this so much I'm going to throw one more treat in here:

Valfreya - "Beyond Illusions"

Not a bad live video from their show at Café Chaos in Montréal last year.  I especially like the in-the-audience jig during the intro.

So there you go; some unearthed new kickass Viking metal for you.  Raise your horns!

Svartby - Elemental Tales.

I've been waiting for this album from St. Petersburgian 'Svartcore' metallers for a few months now.  Svartby ('Black Village', more or less) do two things:

1. They play what can best be described as "folk death", and
2. They have a sense of humour.

Now I know a lot of your trve kvlt metal heads are doing one of two things right now:

1. They are shaking their heads bemusedly, or
2. They stopped reading at 'Svartcore'.

To these people I say one or both of two things:

1. I appreciate that not everyone likes the same things because taste is, after all, subjective, and diversity in musical preference is one of the key factors in producing a varied, eclectic, and artistically stimulating venue for the growth of any genre, and/or
2. Suck flaming balls.

Behold the Trollfinger!

So in case you've been a) living under a rock or b) failing to visit this, the greatest folk metal blog in all of forever on a regular (hourly) basis, I'm sure you've already become familiar with Svartby.  I've even mentioned this album before.  'Elemental Tales' is...wait for it...a concept album.

Wait, come back!

If I've learned anything from this blog, it's that concept albums can be done without sucking hard.  And I'm going to go ahead and say that 'Elemental Tales' is more proof for that theory.

Svartby - "Boulder Massacration"

Briefly, 'Elemental Tales' is a concept album about elemental imps; each has an 'element' associated with it, from the more obvious ones (Earth, Water, Fire) to some less obvious ones (Mushrooms).  The songs all deal with the mischief and mayhem such imps can wreak on hapless humans.

Okay, I just want to point something out here: this is a folk metal album that is not about trolls.  I'll let that sink in for a bit.

The imps in question were drawn by a Russian artist named Tatyana 'Siriliya' Stasenkova, some of whose artwork can be seen on her deviantArt page here.  They're clever, cute, and ripe for merchandising possibilities (hint hint).  The album itself is not so cute, however: brutal death growls and hammering riffs belch forth in inimitable Svartby style, along with enough of a folky element to keep them from becoming mediocre death metal.  This is Svartby doing what they do best: folk death with a sense of humour.  Or, as they say, 'Svartcore'.

Svartby - "Mushroom Rings"

Let the haters hate; this is a fun, heavy, catchy album and unless your ass-crack is frozen shut by grim and frostbitten panties, it's definitely worth a spin.  Get your Svartcore on with 'Elemental Tales'. I give it 5 out of 5 drinking horns raised.

You can order the CD from the webstore of their label TrollZorn here, though Svartby themselves seem to have a certain tongue-in-cheek acceptance of the internet's rather loose moral code and have pointed out that it is available for free in various places (i.e. file sharing archives).  I'll let you figure that part out for yourselves, since I'd like this 'wild black village crew' to make some money off their shit and put out some more albums.

Also, folk metal that's NOT ABOUT TROLLS.

New Heidevolk Video.

Thanks to a tip from the industrial spy I have in place over at the corporate headquarters of No Clean Singing, I have a sexy new Heidevolk video to share with you.

Heidevolk - 'Als De Dood Weer Naar Ons Lacht'

From their new album 'Batavi'.  Sexy.

The Crushians Are Coming.

See what I did there? It's like "Russians" but I put the word "crush" in there so it sounds like I'm saying that something is "crushing".

That's a huge pecker. You see what I did there?

As it happens there is some crushing Russian news here for you: folk-death newcomers Leshak have released some teasers for their new album 'Pustosvyat' due out at the end of February.  BEHOLD:

Leshak - 'Windmill'

That album cover is just nuts. Oh look, here's more! This is the title track:

Leshak - 'Hollow Prayer'

The end of February is coming soon.  As Leshak themselves say, "Wait for unholy explosion!" 

Raise Your Horns.

Yesterday was a special day.  It marked the birth of Tomas Forsberg, probably better known to most of us as Quorthon.

R.I.P. June 7, 2004

He in turn gave birth to the concept we know today as 'Viking metal'.  For that, here in the witch-haunted caverns of Also, Wolves, he is to be honoured.  Therefore in my infinite wisdom I declare February 17th to be the international holiday 'Viking Metal Day'.  

Irreverence aside, I think we can all agree that his passing left a hole in the metal universe that cannot be filled.   So raise your horns for this fallen warrior and hold those hammers high.  

Bathory - "One Rode To Asa Bay"

We'll see you in Valhalla.

RECANT

I think I said once that I wasn't a fan of Suidakra.

I just caught this video clip for "Balor", released in January.  I think I'm converted.

Suidakra - "Balor"

Hey, we all make mistakes.

NIBURTA! And Burritos!

If you're like me, and I know you are, you spend a significant portion of your waking hours masturbating to questionable porn on the internet. Well, knock it off for a few minutes and pay attention, because I'm about to lob a volcano made of awesome and packed with sweet-ass grenades of kick-assery at your head.

Yeah, pretty much.

I mentioned Niburta before (here) and if you were paying attention you may have noticed that I think they're pretty fucking awesome.  Well recently they contacted me with "some news".  Now I may be fairly new to music blogging but I'm a cynical bastard by nature so I was expecting...not much, to be honest.  Maybe something like "oh, we're writing a new song but you can't hear it yet," or "hey we're going on this awesome tour which you will never get to see because it's in Eastern Europe" or something like that. 

However, while the tour part is mostly true (more on that later), I am happy to say that team Niburta sent me so much news this post is practically writing itself.  So if you're like me and have gone back to masturbating by the time you get to this point, knock it off and pay attention.  Again.

First, the big stuff.  Watch this teaser trailer.  Go on, watch it.  I'll wait.

Vas és Vér / Iron and Blood (compilation)

You'll notice Niburta featured on that comp, along with a number of other bands featuring Hungarian folk songs in a metal style...but did you notice those last two? I think pretty much everyone who has come by the Also, Wolves wolf den is familiar with Funebre and De Profundis.  So, in pretty good company, I'd say.

That alone is pretty exciting, in my opinion.  And yes, Niburta IS working on a new album, which you can't hear yet...unless you happen to catch them live in the next few months.  Which you can do in April, provided you don't live in North America, because they're doing the Beltine festival with a little band you might have heard of.  They're called Korpiklaani.  Oh yes, and FUCKING TROLLFEST.  

I'd give my left nut to see that show, if I hadn't already promised it to Satan in exchange for my luxurious silky pelt of back hair.  

Side note: I would not recommend actually fucking TrollfesT.  They look kind of dirty. And possibly homeless.

From Blabbermouth.net

But anyway.  

Niburta is also working on their first video.  I have nothing of that to show you as yet but I am to understand that it is fully animated so I can only assume it will be as awesome as this:

I fucking love burritos.

And one last thing.  

Niburta's violinist/bagpiper Anna 'Panni' Németh is apparently going to be featured on one of Hungary's biggest tv talent shows, Csillag Születik ('A Star Is Born') "converting modern rock and pop singles into bagpipe songs".  

I think you all know how I feel about bagpipes.

That's about it for now.  As soon as I get my dirty, homeless Trollpaws on those videos, I'll be putting them up here faster than I can fap to questionable porn.  And if you come back to check them out, I promise I will stop talking about masturbation.  Well, for a few minutes anyway.  Maybe even a whole post.  But I ain't making any guarantees.

HEIDEVOLK - BATAVI

Co-hosting this post with the champion loris-herders over at No Clean Singing!

I think it's safe to say that folk metal (or pagan metal, if you prefer) doesn't have the same massive following here in North America that it does in Europe. Not to say there aren't tons of folk metal fans in the colonies; I've proven (in this post) that pretty much anyone who likes metal likes folk metal to some degree whether they care to admit it or not.

But the fact is, we just don't live in our history in the same way native Europeans do. We are divorced from our past and our mythology, and while we have carved ourselves a home out of these conquered lands, we've really only been here for a few hundred years. Compare that to the fact of many European countries having been settled since the Neolithic (and before) it's easy to see why we don't have the same attachment to traditions, other than the ones we've made for ourselves. Like, say, nude pudding wrestling. Or midget porn.

Seems legit.  No really, it's a sport.

I had a point...oh yeah. So part of the reason I first gravitated toward Dutch metal-mongers Heidevolk was because of this idea of living in one's history. Much as I love Viking metal, Vikings are not directly part of my past, so there is a certain disconnect there. Now I myself am not Dutch but my family on my mother's side is from the Netherlands. That's really my only connection to Heidevolk, but it was enough to get me to give this band a listen. Also, pancakes.

Pancakes are fucking metal.

I'm going to say Heidevolk was not initially my cup of grog; my tastes run to harsh vocals and horrendously distorted riffage, and when I hear clean male vocals in conjunction with folk metal I start to think 'power metal' which does not appeal to me at all. But there is something about this band, some indefinable quality that just makes it work for me. I'd like to think it's my Dutch blood, but I have a sneaking suspicion it may just be because this band ROCKS THE FUCK OUT.

Thank Odin's grizzled man-teats they're not in pudding.

Now given all this information, when I read the fabulous interview of hemi-vocalist Joris Boghtdrincker over on the godly Death Metal Baboon (here: DMB) wherein he said of the new album “...it’s safe to say Batavi will be more ‘Metal’ than we’ve ever sounded...” I suffered a catastrophic and near-fatal fangasm.

More metal!

But then I began to wonder...how could they possibly sound more metal? They're pretty fucking metal as it is. I prayed to the metal gods that this did not mean a drastic change in their sound. Much as I am all for artists growing and changing and all that shit they like to do, I worried that Heidevolk's unique sound might be lost.

Well I am happy as steel-plated boar tits to inform you that 'Batavi' is, in fact, metal as fuck...and yet it is undeniably a Heidevolk album, despite the changes.

The title track 'Een Nieuw Begin' (already released as a single) wastes no time in introducing you to the 'more metal' Heidevolk; the dual baritone harmonizing vocals are still there, but the music itself is more aggressive and ...did I already say 'thundering'? Shit, I did. Oh well, I'm gonna say it again. It's thundering. You will not find as much of the thoughtful, soulful side of Heidevolk as were present in tracks like 'Nehalennia' and 'Ostara' (from 2010's somewhat introspective 'Uit Oude Grond'). This album, like 2008's 'Walhalla Wacht', is bred for war. Perhaps that is not surprising for a 'concept' album about the Batavians, considering they were by all accounts a pretty ass-kicking tribe of ass-kickers that kicked some ass-kicking ass. Suffice to say that the Romans didn't attempt to tax them; they just wanted Batavian warriors. And for their military prowess to impress the Romans, you gotta know they were pretty...well... ass-kicking. Something about them being able to swim across the Rhine with horses and in full armor without breaking formation... anyway. I'm not going to get into the history, because this is a music blog, so I'll just let Heidevolk tell you about the Batavians in their way.

Heidevolk - "Een Nieuw Begin"

It's hard for me to pick a 'stand-out' track on this album, which I'm guessing (as I don't understand Dutch) means that this album does what a concept album should do, which is work as a unified story. I'm not saying that it all sounds like one song; it ranges from galloping metal ('De Toekomst Lonkt') to melodic and dare I say beautiful instrumentals ('Veleda'). The closing track 'Vrijgevochten' is perhaps more classically Heidevolkian (yeah, I said it) than the rest of the album, with a certain martial stomp to it, highlighting the dual vocals nicely with some harmonic chanting, perfect for that kind of slow headbang that you do where you get your back into it. Still pretty fucking metal though, even featuring some harsh bellows toward the end.

If you're already a Heidevolk fan, 'Batavi' is pretty much exactly what you could have wanted from them; in fact I'd say it's what you could want from any band. It showcases their sound while not being repetitive and derivative. It has what the fans want while still allowing the artists some room to evolve their sound. And did I mention the rocking the fuck out part? If you're not a Heidevolk fan, I'm not going to bother to try to change your mind; more mead in Valhalla for the rest of us. Suck it, hater.

'Batavi' comes out March 2 in Europe and March 6 in the US.  Get thee hence to Napalm Records!

It's Square So It Doesn't Roll Away.

Personal shit has kept me from posting at any length over the last little while.

 This is not personal shit.  

It is wombat shit.  

Note that wombats literally shit bricks.  

I am not making that up.

But I heard a rumour that Korpiklaani will be releasing a new album called "Kunnia" ('Honor', I think...and by "I" I mean "Google Translate") in July.

Also have reviews planned for the new Svartby album "Elemental Tales" and the new Heidevolk epic titled  "Batavia" as well  as some updates on other projects (like, say, Shangren) that we are watching closely here at Also, Wolves.  Stay tuned...