By the Sword of My Father

After the initial shock we all went through with the disappointing ''A Nordic Poem'', the pagan collaboration known as Folkearth released their second full-lenghth, ''By The Sword of My Father''. A record which for sure follows a similar path when it comes to amateurism but somehow manages to take the music to a higher level.

The record starts with a Vangelis-inspired introduction which is pretty catchy and for sure caught me by surprise. Afterwards, however, follows the same old musical chaos. Harsh vocals here, symphonies there and plenty of conventional guitar riffs. Of course, there is a significant improvement regarding mixing, mastering and in general sound quality. Don't get me wrong, there is no crystallic sound, just a production decent enough. Which means the listener is able to separate the musical instruments this time. Despite this important factor, the music still sounds awkward in numerous parts. There are points where I thought I was listening to some low quality raw black metal and others where I was able to enjoy some entertaining viking rock. All in all, I believe Folkearth once again destroyed much of their potential in their try to release an album with variety and influences by many genres.

Anyway, regardless of ''By The Sword of My Father'' seeming rather weird as a whole, I need to highlight the fact that there are many good tracks. For example, ''Naglfar Sets Sail'' is a fully mature and killer folk metal song. With clever melodies, innovative riffs and some great clean female vocals. The title track and the amazing instrumental move around the same level. We need to appreciate the great work that has been done with the folk instruments here. From the violin to the insane bagpipes, the folk side of this record definitely overcomes the metal one by far. Especially if you take into consideration the uninspired drumming too. But yeah, there are both great and terrible parts in this release. I might have enjoyed several songs but I don't even want to remember the biased cover of Falkenbach... Or that filthy pirate repeating ''a tribute to the viking gods'' over and over near the end of the album.

All in all, the second full-lenghth of Folkearth is rather enjoyable, especially if you like traditional music or European mythology. However, to be fully sincere, this is no mature release. There is nothing you have not heard in a good serious folk metal album. In the end, what we really have here is a compilation of some epic and some dancing melodies influenced by medium quality black metal.

With no fewer than 31 musicians and vocalists credited with recording it, the prospect of listening to Folkearth's 2nd CD 'By the sword of my father' could be seen as a daunting one. With so many musicians coming together to create a CD, the obvious thought that presents itself is that the result would be a directionless, pretentious mess. In fact, the band is set up in a similar fashion to Avantasia and Aina, with a small core of key members being joined by a large cast of guests that each have a small part to play in the overall result.

The result is actually a considerably focused effort that can be seen as something of a celebration of folk metal, drawing on all the members experience to create a blend of many of the genre's different variants to create a (perhaps surprisingly) strong and cohesive effort.

Probably the CD's biggest strength is the variety of styles that are incorporated across the 72-minute running time. There are songs which are essentially speed/power metal layered with additional seasoning from the folk instruments combined with more typical folk metal efforts based around jerky rhythms, as well as harsh, pounding numbers and some sombre ballads. The variety of vocalists, each with a unique style to show off, is massively important to this – traditional metal wailing is set off against ugly black metal growls, beautiful soprano lilting and, in the ballad "Invictus", a mournful performace similar to that of Marco Heitala in his more tender moments.

All these divergent styles are held together under the veil of what is, it has to be said, less-than-perfect production (hardly a surprise considering one of the key members, Magnus Wohlfart, has a couple of one-man black metal side projects on the go). For the want of a better and less clichéd example, it almost feels like there is a veil of mist over the proceedings – the slightly murky sound unifies the songs and helps to stop the varied sound from seeming too disjointed to work as a whole.

A couple of instrumental interludes bridge the songs together across the CD's span, and also add to the ambience created by the production. Without ever getting in the way or simply dragging, these short pieces also give greater roles to the massive variety of traditional folk instruments used in the recordings. Of course, it would be spurious beyond belief to suggest anything other than excellent songwriting is behind the quality of 'By the sword of my father', the manner in which it has been recorded certainly adds to the atmosphere.

While it may take time to sink in with the listener – even great CDs of this length can be something of an endurance test at first – a little patience will be rewarded by an epic, rousing collection of songs that showcase Nordic folk metal at something close to its finest.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/

Folkearth gives credit to every member, even if they only have a few minutes of music in the entire album, so really they are a 4 piece, but count themselves as a 16 piece I think. This aside the music on this album is very diverse. You can go from enchanting forest folk melodies to a cover of Falkenbach.

What first grabs you about this cd is the ambience. For anyone who likes nature type music and metal will adore this cd. I am one of those people so I can really sit back and enjoy the whole grandeur, and at times simplistic cd. Folkearth takes the best parts of folk metal and all related matters to and combines them. This is evident on songs such as The Lady's Gift, Naglfar Sets Sail, and Domain of the Darksome Raven.

The Ladys gift is a song you might here from a band such as Skyclad. Very fast folk influenced metal. This is the best way to start off this cd because it makes you think it would be straight-forward folk metal, this is not the case.

Naglfar Sets Sail starts off with a beautiful combo of a women chanting and a woodwind instrument. This continues for a minute or so than BOOM! The change I talk about. Accordian, double bass, crushing guitars and melodic leads, growling vocals. The most common band I can compare this song to is Fintroll.

Domain of the Lonesome Raven starts off with a folk melody than progresses into a underproduced piece of work. This works very well for two reasons. Reason the first, they are showing their roots of music, many of these artist back in the 90's had this underproduced sound. There is no better place than middle of a cd to really get you back to the old times of both the music, and music theme.

Songs such as the Falckenbach cover "Heathen Pride" and the song Tribute to the Viking Gods are some other good ones to check out just because it further shows how the folk and viking influences combine.

Overall this cd is worth many listens for a person who loves Folk and Viking metal. This is even a better listen if you enjoy the folk side with the actual instruments they used back before modern times. This cd and band is truly a blessing and refreshing listen. Kudos to all members.