Search - Vintersorg :: Till Fjalls

One of the best albums I own

Donald R. Webb | Monterey, CA, United States | 01/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vintersorg is an artist in whom I have long been interested. I first heard him on Borknagar's 'Empiricism' (after having heard much *about* him before that), and, being extremely impressed with him, have since wanted to hear his solo work. 'Till Fjälls', in particular, was the one I wanted to hear (perhaps because of the gorgeous photos of mountains, and the all-Swedish lyrics...). Now, finally, it is mine, and I must say, it is a *fantastic* album.It opens with the brief and folksy 'Rundans'. A very pleasant intro to the album, it hinges around a simple but eloquent melody (sung by Vintersorg, of course) over pastoral acoustics, with an electric guitar in the background during the verses. No drums in this one.
Next comes 'För Kung Och Fosterland', the first actual metal song on the album. In addition to his awesome clean baritone voice, this song features some of Vintersorg's 'grim black metal' vocals. It hardly sounds like the same man. I mean, his clean voice is so warm and majestic that you wouldn't believe that he could also utter such sinister growls. Another cool part in this song is the interlude, which includes a metallized version of 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. It fits perfectly.
The next song, 'Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor', is quite similar, only there are no grim vocals in this one. Some wonderful melodies are found here, included a short but sweet a capela ending.
Next we have the mighty title track, 'Till Fjälls', possibly my favorite song on the album. It begins with piano, and then the band jumps in with a nice, speedy riff and a scream from Vintersorg (with the piano still playing in the background). This song has plenty of blackened vocals, but again, the main focus is his stellar singing. The song is mostly fast paced, except during the chorus, which is just great. Don't be surprised if you find yourself walking around singing, 'Till fjälls, till fjälls, där storm mig famnar! Till fjälls, till fjälls, vakad av ramnar!' over and over. 'Till fjälls', by the way, means, 'to the mountains', or 'to mountains', I believe.
After this we have 'Urberget, Aldst Av Troner'. Not much to say about this one that I haven't said about the others; it's a great song, as all songs on this album are. There are some nice grim vocals on this one.
Then we have 'Hednad I Ulvermånens Tecken', a short, soft song. I really love this one; it's so beautiful. Vintersorg is singing over piano -- what more needs to be said? This song fills me with longing; not longing for any particular *thing*, mind, but just a vague, poignant longing. For me, this is always a good thing in a piece of music.
After this, though, Vintersorg wastes no time in getting back to the metal. 'Jökeln' is a fast, aggressive song for the most part, with a lot of grim vocals. Clean voice is used more sparsely here than on the rest of the album, but when it is, it's just wonderful. The melodies he sings!
The next song, 'Isjungfrun', stands out to me because of the beautiful voice of Cia Hedmark. Vintersorg also shines on this one, and the ending duet approaches transcendental. This is another song that conveys that sense of longing that I can't quite define.
'Asatider' is next, and begins with what sounds like a battle. I love the melodies in this song. There's a nice guitar solo in this one, too. One might say that this is one of the more straight-ahead metal songs on this album. All clean vocals here, no grim vocals.
And finally, we come to 'Fångad Utav Nordans Själ'. Great performances by everyone in this song, especially Vintersorg and Cia Hedmark. This song features layering of clean and grim vocals, which creates a very interesting and highly enjoyable effect. There's also a long acoustic passage where Cia sings alone. Such a soothing part... but then the metal crashes back in, with a sort of grim-clean-grim-clean vocal tradeoff taking place. And then, the moment we all knew would come but prayed that it wouldn't... the CD ends.
As you can see, I am highly impressed by this album, and indeed with Vintersorg, and I fully intend to purchase everything else with which he has had any involvement. Once you hear this album, I'm sure you'll want to do the same."

Absolutely STUNNING--one of the best in my collection

Irony Value | BAYOU | 07/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, Vintersorg... Till Fjalls is easily one of the most underappreciated truly fantastic albums in the history of modern music. And no, I'm not the sort of person who says that every day. In fact, this is a first. I don't write a lot of reviews in non-paying venues, but the fact that this album has only THREE reviews has goaded me to action.If I had to put it in a genre, it's Black Folk Metal, but it's also epic, and gentle, and crushing, and operatic, and many other things. Vintersorg's voice is phenomenal--transcendent even--a baritone like you've never heard before. He sounds like he rows a longship down the fjord to work every day. Vocals alternate between "clean" (untreated, natural) and "black" vocals (a snarl/growl, for the uninitiated, sometimes treated with effects, which is a bit silly in Vintersorg's case, as the "black metal" vocal style is very mannered and normally used to conceal poor-to-nonexistant vocal training, which clearly ain't a problem for this Viking), with all of the real standout moments of the album occurring while he is in "clean" mode. Sounds like some overdubbing in spots (a la Enya), but it's great throughout. There's some nice female vocal on at least one track, as well for you Tristania, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Gathering, Within Temptation, Theatre of Tragedy, and SOTB fans. The instrumentation, which is also quite competant, if not downright excellent, incorporates electric and acoustic guitars, piano, synth in a variety of relatively realistic tones mimicking clarinet, strings, horn, etc., and creating a feel at once bleak and intimate, often soaring and majestic, and perfectly complimentary to the voice, which is why we're here. The production is unintrusive and unremarkable--it could be better, but it's excellent by the standards of the Black Metal scene(anyone who's heard much early Emperor, Ulver, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Immortal, etc. will know what I am talking about)--and about perfect.Till Fjalls occupies an unusual position in Vintersorg's career. It's after the Otyg albums (I'm pretty sure) which are straight-out folk, more or less (and really twee and ridiculous in a few spots and a bit hard for me to enjoy). The next, Odemarkens Son, is also good, but is much more "metal" in a stereotypical sense, with solos, etc. By Cosmic Genesis, he's switched to Space Rock, almost, which is no major problem, but also unfortunately to English, which has less appeal, because even coming from someone who knows NO Swedish, the conviction with which he sings lyrics in his native language, and his ear for its sounds in terms of lyrical composition, renders his Swedish songs his best work. He's also in Borknagar now; I think their new album is some of his best work (despite being in English--I'm sure the lyrics would be no less ridiculous in in some incomprehensible Scandanavian language, but at least I would be none the wiser). If you like this, get it, it's really well-produced and his voice is if anything even stronger. And if you like goth, heathen folk, or black metal (but are open-minded--"In the Nightside Eclipse" this ain't, in fact, it's far better), you WILL like this. There are NO weak spots on this album. Vintersorg is an amazing musician, and this album has potential appeal even for people who think they can't stand Black Metal."

Impressed with Vintersorg

Rebecca L. Radlick | Albany, NY United States | 09/03/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Being a huge metal fan, as well as a fan of Otyg, I thought I would see what Vintersorg was like. I was very impressed.
The songs are interesting dynamically, with vocals ranging from soft and almost mournful to hard and raw. This helps keep songs from becoming monotonous. Another aspect that appealed to me (but might deter some listeners) about this album was that the lyrics/singing were sung in a different language.
I enjoyed all the songs on the album, however I especially enjoyed "Fangad Utav Nordens Sjal" and "Vildmarkens Fortrollande Stammor."
I gave this CD 4 stars instead of five because I felt that some songs could have been added to or expanded on. For example "Hednad I Ulvermanens Tecken" is a beautiful soft piano piece, however I felt that the end of it was somewhat anticlimatic, much to my dismay.
BUT, if you are musically open-minded, check out Till Fjalls. Die-hard metalheads may find this album a bit "cheesy," however if given a chance this album will impress you. The CD is definitely worth [price], and I can't say that about too many CD's out there."