Upon initial reaction, this is the type of album any upstanding human being with some self-respect might shoot him/herself for liking. Vintersorg merges folk with a heavy power metal sound, guitar heroics and lots of melody abound, and if you dare to stick around, there’s some silliness in the ground… (but if I am ever found, my enemies will compound. I’ve got to leave town. Ya dig, junior? Chauncy, will you kindly fetch my knapsack, I’ve got to get lurching. I’m so late already, we’ve begun work on Steven Seagal’s new project "Hot For Mama"). Not being European will likely put a major dent in one’s ability to appreciate the aesthetic value of the clean singing and upbeat melodies combined with the seemingly random death metal vocals. Must be a cultural phenomenon, i.e. Tristania, Lunatic Gods, Golgotha, though Vintersorg isn’t quite in that league because irony doesn’t really enter the picture with the exception of the vocals, at least in my humble opinion. There are the kind of vocals that you may not like at first but they grow on you, and there are the kind you know you’ll just hate always. The latter happens to be the case with Vintersorg and I am NOT listening to this again to test myself. I doubt I’ll understand this concept anyway since I’m not Swedish. It’s as if Pentagoria were to pursue their destiny and finally cover an entire Gordon Bach album with Scott singing clean and Tony growling all serious about it, only I would really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really enjoy that. (Actually, I gave my promo to Jeff of Carrier Flux/Vorpal Bunny so maybe it is a Minnesota thing as well). Storm was novel at the time but I can’t listen to that album anymore, and I’ve never heard Otyg but I’m told it was more or less the same thing in Swedish. Vintersorg is faster and more in the power metal direction, and one of these guys is in Otyg, so fans of that stuff should have fun with Ödemarkens Son. For others like myself who have way too much time on their hands, go listen to this album and figure out what you did or haven’t done in life to make you do such a thing, and make some changes.

Written By: Abbas