Rådarna – ‘The Formorian Horde’ (2021)
Rating: 8.5/10
Release: 1 February 2021
Label: Independent
With “The Formorian Horde” of Rådarna we received the next Debut Album of the year 2021. The Swedish band had been founded by Rikard Falk after joining forces with with José Miguel Martinez in order to present a folk metal release influenced by bands as Finntroll, Svartby and Troldhaugen. It seems to me that everything went quite quick in the house of Rådarna, opening of their facebook side on the 5th of January 2021, 10th of January advising with a teaser the release date of their album on the 02.02.2021, 07.02.2021 the album was available on all a lot of digital platforms like Spotify, Itunes and others and on the 21.02.2021 the album was ready for pre-ordering as phsyical copy on bandcamp. What a start of band, which was basically unknown till the beginning of this year. It is also to mention that all artists of Rådarna live in different countries, so first of all the production of the album must had been quite challange and secondly they are stating by themselves that live shows will most likely never happen.With the “The Formorian Horde” you get an album which brings you into the world of the celtic and nordic mythology and is spiced with a great load of humor, which is making this record quite entertaining. The music itself is some kind of alternative folk metal which includes a fusion of humppa metal, pirate metal, power metal and even celtic punk. Same story with the vocals combining deep growls, clean sometimes nearly punky singalongs and power metal chants. Somehow a crazy mix of everything and quite unique. Especially the interplay between the growls,the punky singalongs and clear chants I never experienced in any other band and the implementation of the same is really brilliant. The use of synths and the accordion underlines each songs and creates more atmospheric folky soundscapes. In respects of the lyrics they are mostly all about the dangerous creatures out of the celtic or nordic mythology and the way how they are presented have a nearly comedian touch. My recommendation for checking out the album would be actually the songs “House of Banshee”, “Beware of Red Cap” and the title track “The Formorian Horde”, which count to my favorites of this very special release. Rådarna is finding a very nice balance between folk metal, pirate metal and celtic punk, which makes this Debut certainly one of the most innovative records in the year 2021.
Tracklist
- The Beginning of the End of the Beginning 01:38
- The House of Banshee 03:34
- Woodwose Song 04:20
- Beware of Red Cap 04:21
- Beyond Pain 03:20
- The Fomorian Horde 04:23
- Ocean man 04:15
- The Spirit of Ly Erg 04:09
- The Ending That Is Kinda like a Beginning but Really Isn’t 01:18