If these Danes had their way, the entrance to Valhalla would greet the deceased with the sounds of bagpipes, tin whistles, violins, and, of course, your standard heavy metal instruments. Vansind has been marrying Viking metal with folk instruments since 2019. While it took them four years to release their debut, Mørket, they released singles and an EP in trickles while showing off their stuff live. Now, 2026 sees them return with a vengeance on Hævnen. I mean that semantically rather than literally—hævnen is the Danish word for revenge, and Vansind seeks to explore “themes of revenge, betrayal, freedom, and sacrifice.”1 So put on your best Viking garb and pour yourself a heaping cup of mead as we check out what these Danes have to offer.

Take the melodic death metal of Amon Amarth and mix it with the energetic folk of Finntroll, and you’ve got a good base for Vansind. Despite the darker subject matter at hand, Hævnen is a much more upbeat sort of Viking metal than the likes of Bathory or Thyrfing—in fact, it’s much closer in style to symphonic power metal. Songs follow formulaic structures with catchy choruses and tons of hooks. Vansind has a little Coronatus in them, and their blend of beauty and beast style vocalists bears comparisons to Epica. J. Asgaard takes on the role of the beast, with death growls reminiscent of Amon Amarth’s Johann Hegg, and he allows enough melody to permeate his performance to create a compelling presence. Line Burglin, as Asgaard’s foil, has an uplifting, folky lilt and practically steals the show. Just listening to her part on the showstopping opener “Det Største Offer,” as she accompanies an inspired tin whistle, is pure bliss. Then on “Alvild,” while Asgaard’s growls portend darkness, Burglin’s catchy chorus transports you to a happier place. When Hævnen ends on the lower energy “Skæbnens Tunge Vej,” it’s thanks to her that the track doesn’t feel out of place.

Due to their adherence to unique folk instruments, Vansind has a distinct sound. And boy do they have hooks: guitar hooks, bagpipe hooks, tin whistle hooks, vocal hooks, right hooks, left—whoops! Wrong sport. The promo credits Rikke Klint Johansen with the bulk of the folk stuff, namely bagpipes, tin whistles, and keyboards. She does a commendable job of making those instruments some of the most memorable parts on Hævnen. The whistle in particular, plays a surprisingly prominent role. Along with the opening song, Johansen performs some catchy whistle parts on “Blodhævn” and “Det Sidste Nådeskys.” She’s also excellent on the bagpipes, with some great moments on “Alvild,” “I Yggdrasils Skygge,” and the finale.2 And, of course, the heavy metal parts are no slouch either. Danni Jelsgaard’s work on the kit provides a huge boost of energy that never wavers until the final tune. Kirk Backarach and Nikolaj Madsen both play some enjoyable melodic leads (“Det Største Offer,” “Blodhævn,” “Truslen Fra Dybet”) and a nice solo on “Alvild.” Instrumentally, there’s no weak link.

Though tons of fun, Hævnen lacks the edge and daring to really push it into great territory. One issue is Asgaard’s vocals. While overall an enjoyable performance, they feel too polished, monotonous, and lacking in power. Some extra volume and depth from his growls would have helped the tracks carry more weight, but either Asgaard or the mixing falls short. While the formulaic nature of the music serves to highlight the hooks, it also means Vansind plays things a little too safe. Some might also take issue with the song lengths, which mostly run at 5+ minutes. “Det Største Offer,” for example, is the longest at nine minutes, but I personally never felt bothered by this. When the hooks are as great as they are here, it’s tough to complain about repetitive formulas or songs running a little longer than usual.

Vansind have put out an incredibly fun piece of folk metal. “Det Største Offer” currently sits atop my song o’ the year list, and it’s going to be a tough one to top. While the rest of Hævnen doesn’t quite reach the lofty heights of that opener, there are plenty of other bangers throughout. This fun sophomore outing instills lots of hope for what Vansind can offer in the future. While the halls of Valhalla promise plenty of ecstasies for warriors slain in battle, Hævnen serves as an adequate substitute for the rest of us, especially alongside a generous helping of mead.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Mighty Music
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: May 1st, 2026

Månegarm – Edsvuren Review

By Angry Metal Guy

Once upon a time, Månegarm was an apex predator of the blackened folk metal scene that took metal by storm (er, Storm) in the early-to-mid-2000s. For a brief moment, as Heathenfests proliferated and white guys from Wisconsin,1 fell in love with songs about Vikings and runes, the Viking metal/folk metal subgenre was the Next Big Thing, fueled by a surprisingly liquid supply of fiddles, jaw harps, gallops, and flask-swinging choruses. Yet, time wasn’t kind. Turisas ghosted us after leaving us a weird note, Finntroll got lost in the woods and returned changed, and even Thyrfing and Moonsorrow have slowed to a crawl. But Månegarm has never stopped.2 With the impending release of Edsvuren (Oathbound or Sworn), their thirteenth full-length and fifth since signing with Napalm Records, this Swedish trio stands as one of the last standard-bearers of this once-ferocious scene.

Månegarm’s arc explains how we got here. From Havets vargar (2000) to Nattväsen (2009), Månegarm was among the hardest-hitting of the folk metal vanguard. They blended black metal’s blasting intensity with violin counterpoint (and solos), and Erik Grawsiö’s gravel-throated roar. But following Nattväsen, Månegarm underwent a serious change. With the departure of their violinist and bassist, Grawsiö moved to bass, but more importantly, they emerged with a retooled sound. By 2013’s Legions of the North, Månegarm had begun shaping themselves towards something more akin to Amon Amarth’s mid-paced crunch than the blastful abandon of their black metal roots. Edsvuren continues the same trajectory, letting the flames burn low rather than trying to rekindle the blaze; content to let the embers glow.

When the wind blows right, however, Månegarm’s fire burns bright. When these Swedes go heavy, the results are still vital—some of the best metal they’ve released in years. The opening trifecta demonstrates this: “I skogfruns famn” brims with trem-picked harmonies, fiddle, and melodies and pacing that evoke Isengard or Lumsk. “Lögrinns värn” picks up the pace and builds on Amon Amarthian heft, while “En Blodvittneskrans”—one of the album’s standout tracks—crackles with surprisingly punk-inflected drumming and tremelos that transport me to Bjoergvin. On the album’s back half, we again find heavy tracks that brim with harmonic minor riffing, fantastic vocal harmonies, and creative songwriting. “Skild från hugen” stretches into a seven-minute epic, weaving gallops, fiddle, and a doomy interlude where Elinor Videfors’ smoky alto helps to elevate the song. While “Likgökens fest” follows with another blast of urgency. In these moments, Månegarm is vibrant and confident, with a powerful sound and presence.

Much of Edsvuren, however, lives in the embers. Acoustic folk tracks like “Rodhins hav,” “Till gudars följe,” and “I runor ristades orden” aren’t filler; they’re beautiful. The production places each acoustic strum and hand drum with care, and Videfors’ voice adds a crystalline, haunting quality. Ancient and evocative, these songs are built on droning harmonies and modal folk melodies. And they sound great. In listening to these, I’m reminded of Panopticon’s Laurentian Blue, folk music with fiddle and a deep melancholy.3 The problem is proportion. Nearly half the record lives in this slower, acoustic, or mid-paced heavy space. And when stacked back-to-back (“Rodhins hav” through “Hör mitt kall,” and then again in the closing pair of songs), the album sputters. At 51 minutes, Edsvuren isn’t overlong, but there are moments when the pacing lengthens the album.

The vocals provide the oxygen that keeps Edsvuren burning, showcasing some of the finest arrangements Månegarm has ever recorded. Grawsiö’s extreme vocals remain commanding, but it’s his cleans—gravelly and full,4 at times evoking throat singing—that unite Edsvuren. The interplay with the guest vocalists—Elinor Videfors, Grawsiö’s daughter Lea on “I skogfruns famn”—is well balanced. And at its best, the record gives the impression that you’re sitting around the campfire and listening to them sing. Choruses bloom into layers of voices that feel almost ritualistic—but at least communal—and are balanced expertly in the mix (“Till gudars följe”). There’s an almost Finntrollian playfulness in the vocal arrangements at times (again, “Till gudars följe”), while at other times the harmonies are clinically tight like harmonic minor Bad Religion or early Soen. Even when the riffs tread familiar ground—or the album feels like it’s slowing down too much—the vocals continually elevate compositions and keep me hooked.

Edsvuren is an album that’s easy to like, but tricky to love. But I can say with confidence that it’s my favorite Månegarm since the Napalm run began in 2013. The heavy material is vital, energetic, and it reminds me of why I fell in love with these Swedish wolves to begin with. The folk songs and feel are brittle and beautiful, and give the album character and variety. Unfortunately, the overall balance of the record leans a little too hard into mid-tempo riffs, rock feels rather than blastbeats, and acoustic folk music—resulting in pacing that makes it feel less than the sum of its Very-Good!-to-Great! parts. I enjoy the songs, I admire the craft, but taken as a whole, they leave Edsvuren a little low on bite. Edsvuren may not spark anew Månegarm’s flames, but it tends the embers—keeping them warm enough for fellowship, beer, and song.

Rating: Good!
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream5
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: linktr.ee/manegarmofficial | manegarm.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 29th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmonAmarth #Aug25 #BadReligion #Edsvuren #Finntroll #FolkMetal #HavetsVargar #Isengard #LaurentianBlue #Lumsk #Månegarm #MelodicBlackMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #Moonsorrow #NapalmRecords #Nattväsen #Panopticon #Review #Reviews #Soen #Storm #Thyrfing #Turisas #VikingMetal

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KRIGSGRAV Recruits THYRFING's JENS RYDÉN For New Single, New Record Due Out In September

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02.10.2025 Essen / Turock
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New Artist announced for Ragnarök Festival 2025: 🔥 Thyrfing 🔥

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Wintersun – Time II Review

By Angry Metal Guy

Wintersun’s Time II has finally been released after 12 long years. Originally announced before the release of Time I, the album was soon delayed due to mainman Jari Mäenpää’s apparent dissatisfaction with the sound. Enough ink has been spilled on the drama surrounding Jari and his surprisingly stable band—I had not realized that Wintersun has Nightwish’s rhythm section in Kai Hahto on drums and Jukka Koskinen on bass, while guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari is now in Megadeth and, more importantly, contributed guitar solos to the legendary Hevisaurus—and, frankly, it isn’t relevant whether his home studio has a sauna or whatever. What’s more relevant is whether the 12-year wait was worth it. Is Time II a good record? Were the fundraisers and jokes about quantum computing worth it? And like Time II, those questions are simultaneously simple and complicated.

At its root, Wintersun is best understood as a melodic black metal band. Rooted in the wave of Scandinavian melodic blackened/death metal that arose in the early 2000s, Wintersun’s sound is still strongly reminiscent of that which went before, bands like Ensiferum, Månegarm, Thyrfing, and Turisas. This sound’s root is Hahto’s double kick and his ferocious blast beats. These are topped by trem-picked melodies, often in harmonic minor, and topped with guitar godly solos from two of Finland’s finest shredders.1 Floating on the surface comes Jari’s screams and cleans. His screams, again, exist in the melodic black and death space from the early 2000s, while his cleans verge on power metal. His gritty voice plays a major role in Wintersun sounding like Wintersun, as he has a unique approach to both how he produces his vocals and the melodies he sings. Like many bands of this era, the tendency towards maximalism in presentation means that the bass sits low in the mix and often goes unremarked if you aren’t specifically looking for it. And if maximalism isn’t Jari Mäenpää’s middle name, then it’s the meaning of his last name.

Time II is primarily made up of four through-composed songs that run between 6 and 13 minutes. A through-composed song is something like Weird Al’s “Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota,”2 where the song doesn’t have a verse-chorus structure in a traditional sense, but rather there will be melodies and chord progressions that resurface, often varying on a second or third introduction. While arguably common in modern metal writing, rarely have I felt the need to mention it3. In the case of Time II, however, this is precisely what makes it such an interesting departure from Wintersun’s debut and, as well, what makes it an album that’s difficult to wrap your mind around. Each of these songs—”The Way of the Fire,” “One with the Shadows,” “Storm,” and “Silver Leaves”—feature a couple of primary progressions around which the song hovers. The first progression usually introduces a theme that will be repeated, while the second is a kind of refrain that the song will double back on. Yet each song morphs and twists, feeling simultaneously repetitive and novel—leaving the listener with the impression of an A-B-A structure that doesn’t exist and waiting for whistleable melodies that might not resurface.

There is a subtle ingenuity to Jari’s compositional approach that feels inspired by classical music. Each song modulates, with melodies floating on top of the undulating rhythm, while ideas seem fleeting; surfacing before falling away under moist keyboard textures. While Opeth once said that we should view their songs like “movements,” not “songs,” Wintersun writes like that’s the case. And the result for a listener can feel dreamy and sometimes disorienting, waiting for a theme to be repeated where it will never be. This is emphasized by a maximalist production job that even at a DR7/8 feels like every square millimeter of audio retail is taken up by something. This creates a big sound with a lot of moving parts and unlike “Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota,” nothing snaps the listener back into place and reorients them.

The real brilliance of Time II, however, shines through the guitar work. Moreso than the composition or the production—which, honestly, would have benefited from someone like Jens Bogren who has conquered the question of how best to produce big, orchestral metal—the guitars are where the real dynamics arise. This is clearest, for me, in the way that “Ominous Clouds” feeds from the plodding, mid-paced “One with the Shadows” and into “Storm.” With pristine form and beautiful tone, the song sounds like how I imagine David Gilmour would have sounded if he played like Yngwie Malmsteen. The underlying keys exist only to pad these lances of sound that explode from Jari’s incredible fingers. This feeds into Dimmu Borgirian orchestral hits and the primary theme from “Storm,” where the chord progression around which the song will modulate is introduced. But again, the first real change arrives at the 4:50 mark where the guitar suddenly leads the song into a different place! Here we see the kind of compositional brilliance that isn’t just a song rotating around an A and B part, but rather that changes the feel, modulates the vibe, and feeds back into a majestic and beautiful refrain.

The juxtaposition of brilliant, adventurous guitar solos with busy, but simple, musical ideas may be Time II’s biggest weakness. While the use of Chinese instrumental samples and melodies on tracks like “Silver Leaves” or “One with the Shadows” adds a beautiful character to the album, I am struck by how thin and unadventurous the whole feels compositionally. There’s something strange about the fact that this album, so grandiose and for which fans have waited so long, seems to rest on a flimsy and unclear concept. Unlike Ayreon’s The Theory of Everything, which does many of the same things, there’s no sense that Jari wants to repeat themes outside of any given specific song. There are no bigger conceptual interconnections between Time I and Time II that I have noticed. Instead, “Silver Leaves” reaches nearly eight minutes modulating around a singular idea, before introducing a counter melody. “One with the Shadows” is vehemently repetitive, with even the guitar solos not being allowed to drive the song off its monorail of a chord progression.

Time II is an album that is brilliant in some ways and sometimes disorienting. Like a Transformers movie, it is sometimes extremely entertaining to watch, but after you’ve seen it you’re just not sure that you really remember it. With repetition, I have come to love and appreciate these songs. I would even say that Time II is my favorite Wintersun record and it features Jari’s guitarwork at its absolute pinnacle; the man should be a legend for some of these solos. But for an album with such scope and fanfare and vitriol from the fanbase, it seems oddly limited now that it’s finally here. In the end, It’s really good. I particularly love “Storm” and “The Way of the Fire,” even if I’m less in love with “Silver Leaves” and “One with the Shadows.” I would love to see Jari drawing from the Michael Romeo playbook in the future of playing more with tempo, time signatures, and feel, varying his compositions in ways that feel surprising or, alternately, trying to link them together into an epic concept record that works thematically like a John Williams composition. But, if you like melodic black metal with incredible guitars and a lot of energy, Time II is the best thing Jari’s done since Ensiferum. I just can’t help but feel like that’s an anticlimax.

Rating: Really Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: V0 MP3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: wintersun.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wintersun | patreon.com/wintersun
Released Worldwide: August 30th, 2024

#2024 #30 #Aug24 #Camel #Ensiferum #Hevisaurus #JensBogren #Månegarm #Megadeth #MelodicBlackMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #Nightwish #Opeth #Queen #Review #Reviews #Thyrfing #TimeI #Turisas #WeirdAlYankovic #Wintersun