Rating: 9/10 Release: 10 February 2023 Label: Threeman Recordings Fredlös are a new Folk Metal band from the small Swedish town of Norrtälje and feature among its ranks, none other than former Entombed guitarist, Alex Hellid. With that elephant removed from the room, I’m sure you are more interested in … Continue reading →
Rating: 9.5/10 Release: 21 October 2022 Label: Independent / Bandcamp Somewhat surprising, but it is unquestionably worth the wait. Bringing to mind such Pagan Folk Metal heavyweights as Obtest, Skyforger and Metsatöll, this is a definite statement of intent from this young (ish) five-piece. When I pressed play on my … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 23 September 2022 Label: Independent At its heart Alvenrad’s sound is a bombastic take on melodic blackened folk metal, but they enrich and elevate it with innovative prog flourishes, orchestral strings, wind instruments and vocals ranging from rasping black metal to soaring clean singing and choral chants. … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 24 June 2022 Label: Independent first came across Hordak way back in 2006 on their “The Last European Wolves” album and have followed them, sporadically, ever since, so I knew what to expect from their new offering. Or so I thought. The opening track is a blend … Continue reading →
After two years of being postponed, for obvious reasons, the Folk Metal faithful were finally able to descend on the small Swedish town of Norrtälje for the second installment of Månegarm Open Air. Thankfully the line-up from the planned 2020 festival remained mostly unchanged as the majority of the bands, … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 12 August 2022 Label: NoCut Entertainment As soon as you press play, you’re met with the keyboard intro of Volhov, which wouldn’t be out of place on a modern Melodic Death Metal album. I have to admit that this threw me a little at first, but as … Continue reading →
Rating: 7.5/10 Release: 27 May 2022 Label: Napalm Records Let’s start by addressing the (pink) elephant in the room… This is not the album I expected Trollfest to make in 2022. After all, they’ve spent the best part of two decades releasing seven albums of high octane, fast and furious … Continue reading →
Rating: 8/10 Release: 20 May 2022 Label: M-Theory Audio Helsótt’s third album is an ambitious record. Whereas their two previous releases stuck very much to the tried and tested Folk Metal thematic tropes of Norse Mythology and Pagan history, this time around they have thrown their fanbase a real curveball … Continue reading →
Rating: 7/10 Release: 8 April 2022 Label: Rockshot Records I’ll start with a caveat; I’m a huge Skyclad fan. In fact, they are my favourite Folk Metal band and one of my all-time favourite bands, full stop. With that in mind, given that Theigns & Thralls is a new project … Continue reading →
Rating: 9/10 Release: 21 January 2022 Label: Scarlet Records / Bandcamp Verikalpa are the next in a line of great Folk Metal bands from Finland, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Moonsorrow, Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Ensiferum and Turisas. Lofty company indeed, but with this, their third album, Verikalpa have … Continue reading →
