Search - Windir :: Arntor

Folky Black Metal

Wilhelm Mycgeley | Ottawa Lake, MI United States | 10/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is Black Metal. Windir is a one man band. Valfar ( the one man)is an adept guitar player who uses some strange sounds and effects not typical of his genre, and he also uses an audible (!) bass sound in his mix. Continuing in the atypical-ness, this album is imbued with folk. Not in the way you'd expect though. For a good example, listen to "Arntor, Ein Windir" anyway you can. ... Windir rocks, buy now."

Atmospheric black metal at its finest

Jack C_01 | 02/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the only Windir release I've heard, so I can't really compare it with any of their other work, but what I do know is that this release is some atmospheric black metal of the highest order. After an excellent intro that has a good tune and displays a much quieter and lighter tone to the rest of the songs, Arntor ein Warrior kicks in with its very relentless speed and noise along with a chilling opening riff. It sets the tone for the whole rest of the album well. There are only seven songs, but each one is very drawn out, the intro and outro are each over 3 minutes long, while all of the actual songs exceed six minutes in length. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, Windir manage to keep you interested for the entire length of each song with some great guitar lines, the use of keyboards and choirs and the medieval styled sound it produces, and the great atmosphere that is created when listening.



Don't go thinking though that because it's atmospheric and contains some keyboards that it's something that you could quite happily play in the car while driving your granny to the old people's home. For the most part this is still black metal, and much of it is still stunningly fast with the chilling shrieks of Valfar (RIP) on vocals. They just do very well using all the instruments available to them to create some very high level metal music. If you like metal then Arntor will blow you away, the only possible letdown is the track Saknet. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but it's over ten minutes long yet it feels like there aren't as many ideas there as in other shorter tracks. As I said earlier, I can't compare this with any of their other works, but what's clear here is their wide use of instruments such as synths and melodies to create a black metal masterpiece as far as I see it. It's also clear that Valfar was an immensely talented songwriter, having written all of the lyrics and music for this whole album. If you like black metal and you don't have any Windir in your collection, I would recommend this, it has all you could ask for from an album in the genre.



Best tracks are: Arntor ein Warrior, Svartesmeden og Lundamyrstrollet, Kampen

"

Perfection

Wrest | 08/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While all four of Windir's albums are great in thier own way, Valfar clearly hit his peak with this release. Arntor blends folk music (including the use of an actual accordian!) with black metal with a touch of power metal. The result is something truly breathtaking and outdoes anything any other folkmetal band has ever pulled off. The atmosphere of this album is chilly, the songs are moving in ways that trancend metal and popular music in general. "Svartesmeden og Lundumyrstrollet" is not only one of Windir's finest songs, but one of the greatest songs any band or artist has ever composed. I highly recommend picking this release up (along with the rest of his work)."