Rush meets Wintersun
Andreas Hedlund is a truly prolific song-writer and musician, not only does he write and play everything but the drums on the Vintersong albums but he's also front man for Otyg, Borknagar, Havayoth, Fission, Cronian and Waterclime, a busy man if ever there was one (I wonder if he has problems remember which songs belong to which band).
Solens Rotter (The origin of the sun) is Vintersorg's seventh release and it's a musical journey through Scandinavian folk music, hard rock, death metal, prog rock and Viking metal. On the cover this is simply categorised as Nordic folk metal but this shouldn't be confused with the likes of Turisis, Ensiferum or Vargstenen, Vintersorg incorporate more acoustic and organic sounds to their music such as flutes, piccolos, layered vocals, acoustic guitars and strings. Whereas Vargstenen also use these elements to enhance their metal, Vintersorg use the instruments to be foundations of the songs themselves, for example, 'Staler' is a wonderfully meandering piece of music that encapsulates everything that Vintersorg is all about. It's mellow, catchy, progressive and builds slowly to a crescendo without resorting to any thrashing. The melody is poetic and gentle and, like Vargstenen, is sung in Swedish, as is the whole album.
I would argue that Solens Rotter is stronger on the mellow sections of this album. 'Fran Materia Till Ande' and 'Perfektionisten' with their death/black metal thrashing and vocal style make it sound like there are two different bands playing on this album. Because the mellow sections are so strong it causes the heavier sections of Solen Rotter to sound a little crass and unconvincing. The guitar production is fairly weak which suits the progressive nature of this disk but not the attempted heavier sections, it's a matter I find most odd because the production and mix of all the other instruments from the drums to the tiny bells is perfect.
If you take the black metal style away from this CD you'll be left with a rich and inventive piece of work. Andreas Hedlund's clean vocals are excellent and sit perfectly with all the Rush style rock which influences the whole of its 52 minute running time, it's just a shame he chooses to growl and snipe so often. For all of the album's assets the songs themselves aren't very memorable, there's little in the way of solid riffs, ideas, melodies to keep you coming back for more. 'Spirar Och Gror' and 'Idetemplet' come across as particularly strong but beyond these two tracks there's nothing that sits up wanting to be heard so to speak.
There's obviously been a lot of work gone into Solens Rotter and the result is fairly good, it just lacks that x-factor, those extra handful of riffs and soaring melodies to really make this release a classic. At present it's a respectable, lush and varied release let down by its brushings with black metal and those wanting to hear huge guitars and expecting this Nordic folk metal to be in your face then you'll be disappointed. If you like your folk metal both folky and progressive without being overly heavy then has everything you could possibly want.