FALCONER — Armod (review)

Album · 2011 · Folk Metal

4.5/5 · 2011-08-10
Time Signature

Poverty...

Genre: power folk metal

Drawing on both power metal and folk music - tipping more towards the folksy side than the pure power metal side I think - this has got to be the best folk metal release, I have heard in a long time (closely followed by Skáldmöl's "Baldur" and not quite beating Skyclad's "Jonah's Ark").

Most of the melodies, and many of the riffs themselves, follow folk melody patterns, which also applies to the vocal melodies, sung to perfection in Mathias Blad's smooth and solid mid range voice. The vocals are exclusively sung in Swedish, and I must say that Swedish sounds fucking awesome in this context. It also adds a further folksy dimension to the overall music (at least to me, who grew up with a lot of folksy Swedish TV-shows). This album also features the fiddle and other traditional Swedish folk music instruments, but they are never dominant in relation to the metal instrumentation.

A lot of the tunes are in a midtempo pace, although there are some more uptempo parts, and some of the guitar riffage is quite groovy, but you can also expect black metal-like tremolo stuff, and there are even some blastbeats now an then. There are also elements from traditional metal and, of course, power metal, and I really like how the guitars make use of harmonies, and how heavy they sound compared to a lot of power metal.

If you like Nordic folk music and heavy metal music, then this album should definitely be up you alley. A strong contender to the title of folk metal album of the year.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I agree! Mathias is an excellent vocalist.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Not heard that one, I can imagine that being an issue for me as well though. No such issue here, Mathias Blad must have the most pure sounding voice in metal.

All this talk's made me want to play the album again. :)

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I agree... that's why I think it's a shame that one can hardly hear what they're singing on the new Svartsot album.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah I enjoyed those too, it's almost a shame that they intend the style of this album as a one-off. I would be perfectly happy for them to continue with the Swedish, since I actually think that singing in the native language adds an extra layer of authenticity to folk metal.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

One of the things that really made listening to this album a special experience were the Swedish lyrics.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I second that, especially Chapters From a Vale Forlorn.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

If you enjoy Falconer´s style, you should most definitely check out their first two albums.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah this one's excellent. Cruachan's latest just about takes the slot for my favourite 2011 folk metal release though, not counting Wolfchant's which is a mix of lots of styles.