Lombolo – ‘Vandringsmannen’ (2020)
Rating: 7.5/10
Release: 10 July 2020
Label: Independent/Bandcamp
I’m somewhat surprised that we have not seen a lot more music this year so far given the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently though we have started seeing a lot of debuts and we have another to review from Sweden’s Lombolo. “Vandringmannen” (I am translating this as “The Walker”) is a 9 track, 39-minute full length independently released on Bandcamp on July 10th. Formed in 2018, this 4 piece (assuming by pictures but only 3 members listed?) has put out a couple of singles and videos prior to this being released and I have liked what I heard up to this point. Who do they sound like? I would throw you couple of other folk metal acts from Sweden as strong sound alikes……Midvinterblot, Grimner and maybe a touch of Bergsvriden. The song structure is somewhat simple, primarily guitar driven with a lot of choral vocals and folk instrument supplied by flute. I would say that a comparison could be made to Poland’s Windmill in the fact that the members of Lombolo seem to be pretty young but definitely have a few seasons under their belt. The tracks are all in Swedish which works stylistically for sure. The lengths of the tracks range from under 3 minutes to just over 6 minutes with the longer tracks being some of my favorites here (“Britannia”, “Skogen Viskar” and the title track). A couple of notes for future releases…..the flute, while enjoyable, tends to start getting annoying being the only folk instrument hear and starts to give this a one dimensional at points. Are there other woodwind instuments available or keys to help break it up? Thankfully, the tempos, vocal patterns and riffs do help to counteract this. I also think that the overall sound could have benefitted from another viewpoint or set of ears. Some of the vocal notes and harmonies are a little flat at points and lack the necessary energy to carry the message. The mix also does have a somewhat homemade sound with maybe a little too much space between all of the instrumentation and vocals. Despite some of my criticisms, I still found this to be enjoyable and a strong start for these dudes. Give it a listen and I’m sure you will some promising material here and a possibility this could sneak into my debuts of the year list.
Tracklist
- Bärsärkagång 04:56
- Först till kvarn 03:07
- Mot Vinland 05:01
- Britannia 04:37
- Skäggets allians 03:06
- Skogen viskar 06:47
- Ryssen knackar på 02:49
- Skål 03:22
- Vandringsmannen 05:17