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Wardruna: Runaljod - Yggdrasil

30/04/13 || Habakuk

I’m gonna cut e-mail newsletters some slack here. Sometimes, among the myriads of unnecessary offers, they actually contain some relevant info. Like, “the new Wardruna album is shipping now”. Which translates to “in a few days you can walk to the local Finnish record store and find it there for a higher price than back in Germany. In the meantime, look for it on Spotify”. And lo and behold, there it is.

Wardruna, the backwards-oriented traditional Nordic music project of two Gorgoroth musicians, is the kind of music that is best listened to in solitary confinement of sorts. I’m usually really fond of recommending music to friends, but when the very recommendation makes me look like a retarded forest troll, my missionary fervor quickly subsides. It’s not so bad when I hide behind an Internet persona though. Which, moreover, contains the word penis in Swedish. Unintentionally, as I might make clear once more. Anyway lucky you, dear reader, for Wardruna is some good shit – yet again that is, as “Yggdrasil” is part two of what is going to be the “Runaljod” trilogy, started on a high note by Gap var ginnunga in 2009.

Apparently these guys made it into that “Vikings” TV series, too. Never seen it, but you might be interested. So what they do is actually try to go for the real deal. Not Viking metal, but Viking music. No guitars, no drumkits and shit (no keyboards!!), but traditional instruments and ingredients. Lots of throaty chanting alone or in choirs, additional female vocals, wooden percussion instruments for rhythm, and whatever old school flute and string derivatives you can think of for melody. And nature sounds, of course, which are a welcome addition to any attempt at recapturing the days of yore in audio form. Rain, streams, birds, you know, the stuff from outside your window.

And yes, it sounds pretty damn atmospheric. Keeping their craft hypnotic at times, catchy the next minute, the band however manage well to keep playing songs, not pointless, overindulgent 10 minute “moodpieces”. The key to that is a focus on rhythm, simplistic as it may be. Bum bom, bum bom… You can actually nod your head in approval to this album. And you should, as the songs on “Yggdrasil” each build up an identity of their own, yet fit together nicely, maintaining a dark mood throughout. Even rare retarded moments like the intro to “AnsuR”, which sounds like a bearded idiot stumbling through the forest piss drunk, can thus be forgiven in the grand scheme of things. They are simply outweighed by a mass of seriously cool music. Talent definitely also beats possible accusations of pretentiousness here, which I don’t even think would be justified. Everything feels pretty genuine.

Also, one does not have to be a total Viking nerd to enjoy this – yours truly couldn’t care less about the subject. The metal scene endlessly revolving around such matter is definitely fertile ground for the seeds sown by Wardruna, though. At any rate: I think that anyone who can take a pause from distortion and appreciate when a band is dead serious about, proficient in, and absolutely dedicated to their work, shouldn’t miss out here.

Information
Released: 2013
Label: Indie Recordings
Website: www.wardruna.com
Band
Kvitrafn: vocals, all instruments, samples
Gaahl: vocals
Lindy Fay Hella: vocals
Erlend Gjerde: drums, percussion

Tracklist
01. Rotlaust tre fell
02. Fehu
03. NaudiR
04. EhwaR
05. AnsuR
06. IwaR
07. IngwaR
08. Gibu
09. Solringen
10. Sowelu
11. Helvegen

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