The Focusing Blur

It's usually very interesting to hear a reinvention of a genre, whether its taking the existing sound of the genre in a new direction, or using abnormal means to make the same point. Vintersorg are one such band that have done alot for their style, that being the sort of music most often called 'viking metal'. This genre typically revolves around a narrow band of topics, ranging from Viking mythology, to Viking culture, and giants. Although I have boundless respect for some of the best viking acts- Bathory and Enslaved come to mind- most bands are copycats that try to revive both the glory of their war-torn ancestors, and the artists that made it such a popular trend in metal to begin with. This is largely why Vintersorg stand out, why they have all of the qualities of viking metal, they are not afraid to experiment with trying new things. As promising as that sounds, this has led to a rather uneven career, and their fifth album 'The Focusing Blur' is right evidence of this. Despite having plenty of potential for brilliance, Vintersorg's ambition leads them to create something that feels more scattered than anything, leaving me to wonder what this could have sounded like if things were a little less, err... blurry.

In the style of many viking metal bands, Vintersorg use very clean vocals over the sort of instrumentation that someone might first associate with black metal. There are extreme vocals here, but they are used very sparsely. The vocal duties instead aim for either melodic singing, or theatrical spoken-word dialogue. The singing of Andreas Hedlund is probably the best thing that Vintersorg offers here; as usual, his voice is very strong, and offers the listener plenty of incredibly melodic choruses around every corner. Although incredibly harmonious and well arranged, few of the melodies are all-too memorable, although I will admit that some of the lines here can get pretty catchy after a few listens. As for the spoken- word pieces that are so prevalent on this album, Hedlund warbles on as if he was some philosophically-inclined ringleader, and it does not work quite as well as Vintersorg thinks it does. Usually, these parts pass by as being too heavy on the cheese and even pretentious, especially considering that there are song titles here like 'A Microscopical Macrocosm'. The lyrical content is probably more interesting than typical runes-and-giants fare, but this could have been done so much better.

The keyboards fill in for the folky elements here, and while they might attempt to sound like classical string sections and medieval instruments, but the synths are far too shallow to stand as a valid replacement. The way these folky sections are played sounds very thin, made more of a shame by the fact that the composition itself is very good. 'The Focusing Blur' does not enjoy the same memorable songwriting, but there are parts here where Vintersorg is showing their adventurous spirit, and it's ironically usually shown through the cheesy keyboards. Through the fairly typical melodies, drums and guitar parts, it usually comes as a big surprise to hear them drop a prog rock keyboard solo in the middle of a song. There are even moments- particularly an eerie moment that felt almost plucked out of a circus show- that nearly verge on the avant-garde.

What I envision most for Vintersorg here are two guys with a bunch of musical ideas, throwing them all down in a row, and calling it an album. Admittedly, some of the stuff here is brilliant, but I cannot call 'The Focusing Blur' an excellent album for the fact that for every idea that does work here, there is another that does not fare nearly as well. Put simply, 'The Focusing Blur' needed more focus. Less forward-thinking albums by this band have had a greater impact on me, simply because there was a clearer sense of flow to them.

With The Focusing Blur, Vintersorg have managed to produce one of the most unique metal albums of all time. It doesn't seem as if some Viking metal artist would have ever done this considering the limitations of the style. However, Andreas Hedlund has taken viking metal in an extremely progressive direction both musically and lyrically.

The songs are all based on modern scientific ideas and advancements that include complexity, expansion, and relative perspective: microcosms and macrocosms. With these eccentric topics comes some very interesting instrumentation and arrangments. There is a blend of viking metal with electronics, theatrics, and peculiar meloldies that accentuate the song in such a quirky way. If not for the subtlety of it all, it would come off cheesy, but Vintersorg have not stressed the folk element in such a form that makes you laugh. Some may look sideways at this music, but true originality will often make you stretch your mind to grasp it.

For specific tracks, The Thesis's Seasons, A Sphere in a Sphere (To Inifinity), and Curtains are the tracks that stand out the most. However, each song has it's own uniqueness. You won't find that every song sounds the same as many bands of this background. Each song has several catchy phrases and melody lines that will stick in your head. It's definitely not a "true" album, but if progress helps to advance the genre out of static isolation, then you will definitely want to check this album out. The album features a mixture of traditional vikind/black metal vocals with Hedlund's very excellent natural voice. He's arguably one of the best actual metal vocalists today.

This album is a journey, and once hooked, you'll find you don't want to put it down. The song A Sphere in a Sphere (To Infinity) has to deserve some sort of lifetime merit award. This song is just too damn good. Give it a good strong listen and expect something out of the ordinary in a very good way.

Before I progress, let’s come to one critical realization: Vintersorg, at least the Viking/folk band that we knew before, is dead. In its place has folky/spacey/avant-garde/pseudoprog Vintersorg. Some of you may recall that I was rather harsh with Vintersog when the band decided to leave the folk realm behind on their 2002 album, VISIONS FROM THE SPRIAL GENERATOR. While the album finally did grow on me somewhat, it’s sub-par quality reflected the state of transition that the band experienced.

Now, reenergized and refocused, THE FOCUSING BLUR realizes the musical and experimental concepts that were just falling into place on VftSG. The gratuitous synth intro “Prologue Dialogue” flows along almost like a piece from a video game soundtrack before moving into “The Essence.” At first, I thought this was another intro piece with an excellent folky acoustic guitar introduction until the real song kicks in. Alternating the growled vocals and raw blasting drums with quirky synth-tinged interludes and clean vocals, followed again by clean acoustic breaks, this song seems to reconcile the differences between the folky and “traditional” Vintersorg works on COSMIC GENESIS with the experimental side shown on VftSG. Even with all the odd time changes, “The Essence” already shows that Vintersorg’s songwriting has developed into a more focused and coherent output.

“TheThesises Sessions” is another song with crazy timing that, in an odd fashion, reminds me in some areas of a Spiral Architect tune, although slower and not quite as technical. To me, the main body of the song seems to drag through some areas, but features a chorus that is excellent both in the combined growl/clean vocals and guitar riffage. “Matrix Odyssey” gets off to a rough start with some shitty sampled intro then gets even more bizarre with some funky keyboard experimentation, but it has a full, rich sound. I’m digging the variety on this track quite a bit…the little change at around 2:48 is one of those little “what the fuck?” moments on the album that just make each song cool.

What does the rest of the album have in store for us? A lot of the same type of quirky, progressive experimentation, albeit in a much more refined and coherent form. “A Sphere in a Sphere” picks up some interesting guitar solos throughout the song. “Dark Matter Mystery” has the typical Vintersorg feel of old to it and in all is a very catchy, though somewhat slower piece. “Curtains”? Well, all I have to say about this song is “what the fuck”? This song is so strange that I love it! The middle part of the song and the piano pieces are just so freakin’ weird that they have to be heard to be believed.

The last Vintersorg album was painful to hear and to review, but was a necessary transitional piece to separate the old Viking/Folk Vintersorg from the new experimental direction the band has taken. THE FOCUSING BLUR is a strong album with no weak songs at all that keeps getting more enjoyable with each listens. Certainly, fans of the progressive/avant garde style will eat this up, but I think that if VISIONS alienated some Vintersorg fans, then THE FOCUSING BLUR is strong enough to bring them back into the Vintersorg camp.

(originally written by me for www.metal-rules.com, February, 2004)

I don't feel the need to provide background information, and boring you, so I'll cut to the review.

This album is an easy contender for the best of 2004 already. If you like Vintersorg, there is no way you can go wrong here, and even if you don't/haven't heard them, you MUST check this album out.

The album is conceptual. For the most part, It's about scientific advancements.

1) Prologue - 8.5/10 Excellent intro. Contains a few tunes and lyrics that will be found in future songs. Overall relaxing, and gets you into the mood.

2) The Essence - 9.5/10 first real song, and it's killer. Beginning with classic Vintersorg acoustic guitars, before bursting into the black metal side of Vintersorg with a nice riff and some nicely done black vox. The song goes back and forth, and has a progressive feel to it, something you will notice in this album a lot more than Vintersorg's earlier work. The clean sung "chorus-ish" part is the highlight of the song. Overall very very good.

3) The Thesises Seasons - 8.5/10 Dont worry about this being an album that begins well and falls apart, because it never happens. In fact, I find the second half of the album to be stronger. The Thesises Seasons lets you know that this will be a consistant album. Awesome basslines in song. mostly clean sung.

4) Matrix Odyssey - 8/10 Actually probably the worst song on the album. Hearing this song and imagining it as the worst on the album will leave you confused at first. A very good song, with a cool riff that reminds me a lot of something Edge of Sanity (Dan Swano) would write. Very nice solo near the end. Just happens that everything else is THAT good.

5) Star Puzzled - 8.25/10 A very fast paced song, probably my favorite vocal effort as far as the clean vocals go. Very very nicely done here. This song never really stays in one direction, always great, but never really super amazing.

6) A Sphere in a Sphere - 9.5/10 Here we go. What a song this one is. begins with an excellent guitar solo before a small clean sung verse, leading into the very powerful chorus. The chorus is done over a great acoustic riff and is extremely catchy. This is the first song on the album that seems more guitar based than bass based, which is really nice to have in the middle of the album.

7) A Microscopical Macrocosm - 10/10 Wow. You can never give enoguh credit to a band for fitting the words "A Microscopical Microcosm" into a well flowing chorus, nevermind the fact that it is THE CATCHIEST CHORUS EVER. Beleive me. You'll be singing the chorus all day. This song just plain needs to be heard. a lot more folk based than the rest of the album.

8) Blindsight Complexity - 9/10 Killer riff, a little more black metal based than AMM, but still regular Vintersorg switching it up. Very nice follow up to AMM.

9) Dark Matter Mystery - 9/10 Again a mostly clean sung song. Overall an extremely entertaining song. Nothing really new here. Same old excellent bass and vocals. There's even the beginning of the killer bassline to Epilogue thrown in here a few times. Overall excellent song.

10) Curtains - 10/10 Here it is. The best Vintersorg song ever, and one of the best songs ever. Just plain everything is in this song. Awesome riff, amazing bass, excellent clean vocals, excellent black vocals, and of course the ultimate Vintersorg moment, the "Drunken rambling sounds like Pink Floyd's The Trial part" This is the first time I've mentioned the keyboardist, but excellent job here. The combination of that crazy tune and the insane vocals make this part (which happens multiple times) just plain perfect.

11) Artifacts of Chaos - 7.5/10 Eh, it's more of a segue than it is a song. nothing special, just something between the amazing Curtains and the amazing Epilogue to stop you from creaming yourself.

12) Epilogue - 9.5/10 Excellent excellent excellent. The bassline here is just perfect. The lyrics reflect a lot on the album. The clean vocals along with this awesome bassline just makes a simple yet extremely effective song. One hell of a closer.

Any fan of music really should get this album. There's something for the folk fan, something for the BM fan, something for the prog fan, and everything for the Vintersorg fan. I will be extremely happy if something comes out in 2004 that beats this, because I dont anything short of a new Pain of Salvation or Agalloch will do the trick.

Highlights: Curtains, A Microscopical Macrocosm, A Sphere in a Sphere, Epilogue. Best listened to as an album though.

Ah, another Vintersorg album. The sample mp3 that Vintersorg put out on his website had me with high expectations... and believe me, they were met and surpassed.

1 - Prologue Dialogue - 7/10 - A nice little intro track to set the mood. This track is full of different instruments and sounds, all flowing together nicely.

2 - The Essence - 9.5/10 - Here's the real first song. It starts out with an acoustic intro and some great bass work by Steve DiGiorgio. It then turns into a typical Vintersorg song, but there's something that is definitely different here. The drums are very technical at every break, and every instrument is pretty much played as a lead. The changes throughout the song are timed perfectly [The change at around 2:30 caught me a little off guard, though. I was amazed]. This song isn't without some odd sounds and experimentation, either. This is only the first actual song on the album, and this made me wonder how this song could be topped.

3 - The Thesises Seasons - 7.4/10 - The bass at the very beginning of the song is crazy. There's one constant riff at the beginning while everything else goes crazy, and it sounds really good together. The bass is more of a rhythm instrument through the majority of this song, though. Vintersorg's vocals are great in this song. This song has a weird rhythm which would appeal to fans of prog. The song has a piano break in the middle... well timed again. It slowly builds back up from that part.

4 - Matrix Odyssey - 8.5/10 - This song starts out with a speaking part from Mattias. Vintersorg does some backup chanting during the verses when he growls, and it turns out to be very interesting. This song is full of experimentation: the keyboards are a lead instrument. The vocals come from different places at different times. This song goes into a slow break just like the last two, but before you can even think of yawning, it goes right back into an intense riff... Vintersorg trickery. Towards the end, there are some excellent melodic guitar solos that are noteworthy. The main standout in this song would be the vocals, though.

5 - Star Puzzled - 7.5/10 - The beginning has synth and growling to set the mood for another 6 minutes of experimentation. The drums are impressive throughout the whole song, and they're the true standout of this song. Asgeir has always been impressive behind the set, but this song is reminiscent of Spiral Architect. There's a slow break with some techno-sounding drums to show that Vintersorg has no limits to his experimentation.

6 - A Sphere in a Sphere? - 7/10 - The song starts out with a catchy riff, and then goes into a guitar solo. Nice work. The song is melody driven, and Vintersorg's singing compliments this well. There is a piano/bass part where Steve gets to show off his bass skills. Fretless basses sound so much better than fretted ones, and he shows it there. The piano is a lead instrument throughout most of the song. Overall, this song is standard Vintersorg but standard Vintersorg is still awesome.

7 - Blindsight Complexity - 9.6/10 - The main riff in this song is addicting. Simple but effective. It's the only thing in this song that could be considered simple, though. Asegir's drumming is breathtaking, and Vintersorg's singing is great as usual. There's a break which allows the bass to shine, too. It took a while, but there's finally a song on this album to top the first one.

8 - Artifacts of Chaos - 6/10 - A nice little instrumental. Something to calm the mood.

9 - Dark Matter Mystery/Blackbody Spectrum - 8/10 - Right from the beginning, this song has a typical Vintersorg feel, and it sticks until the end. The chorus is very catchy, and the melodic guitars are memorable. If there was to be a single for this album, this would probably be it. Don't let that fool you, however. Every musician has their chance to show off in this song: it'd be one of the most complex singles ever released. Parts of this song remind me of the Cosmic Genesis album more than anything else. At first, I assumed that the instrumental was used to split the album into two parts, until...

10 - Curtains - 10/10 - This song is absolutely insane. This is the last thing I expected to follow Dark Matter Mystery on the album. The beginning has intense drumming, and the way Vintersorg sings over it at first is a beautiful contrast to the harshness of the rest of the instruments. Then 1:48 rolls around. Complete 180. The chorus has a piano which sounds like it's straight out of a western flick. This song is easily the best song on the album. Vintersorg's mind never ceases to amaze me.

11 - A Microscopical Macrocosm - 8/10 - Right off the bat, this song has an odd time signature with the bass right up front. It's a slow tempo song. The chorus is catchy, but that's about it. The verses are seemingly bass solos that the other musicians built upon [that's obviously not what happened, but it seems like it]. The chorus is repeated a few more times at the end. A great way to end such an experimental album.

The song rating system was pretty useless. If I were to review it again tomorrow, the ratings would probably be different. The Focusing Blur is more of an experience than an album. It may not appeal to you at first if you don't give the music your full attention. It took a few listens before I caught everything, but that's what makes an album great. You find something new with each listen, and it doesn't get old or boring. Of all the albums coming out in 2004, this was the one I anticipated the most. I was pleasantly surprised, and I'm sure that anyone else who looks forward to The Focusing Blur will be too.