Zyklon - 2001 - World Ov Worms

Zyklon is the new full-time super group from Norway's most blackened regions, consisting of Emperor members Samoth (guitarist and bass) and drummer Trym, Myrkskog's Destructhor on lead guitar, and Limbonic Art vocalist Daemon. This is hyper-fast, extreme black death metal, not to be contended with from any region or country, as it blitzkriegs the listener with it's all-out sensory attack. Opener "Hammer Revelation" is just that: an over-the-top assault in the vein of old Emperor, Morbid Angel, Immortal, Bolt Thrower, or Behemoth all pushed to new levels of extremity. Resident murderer Bard Faust Eithun has decided to pen the lyrics to the album, and from what can be heard, they aren't too bad, focusing more on the apocalyptic than the overdone blasphemous tomfoolery of old. Razor-sharp production, futuristic samples, and cold, mechanical synths combine to give the whole album a degenerated industrial feel. One gets the feeling that they have entered the post-apocalyptic region somewhere between solitude and hell. Trym sounds back to old form, leaving behind his recent straightforward Emperor style, for the more experimental percussive rhythms of Zyklon with its varying tempos and mechanical persistence. Daemon's vocals sound like a black metal hybrid with old Godflesh/Justin Broadrick vocals, which accentuates the mechanized quality of the music. However, it is Destructhor and Samoth's string work, which holds the foundation of the music together, as layers of churning guitar grind through the listener with Ihshan or Trey Azagthoth-like precision. Once "Transcendental War," the closer, is reached, we are treated to the most savory morsel of all, a guest appearance by the infamous Garm. Bursting forth with boiling guitar, the song grooves into a mid-paced Morbid Angel churn at the four-minute mark, before Garm's sorely missed clean chants soar effortlessly over the music as the chaos winds down to a quiet doom. This aptly subtitled "Battle Between Gods" is a perfect, grim closure to an apocalyptic masterpiece. Those who love the extreme, commit musical suicide with Zyklon.

		1		Hammer Revelation	Destructhor, Eithun, Zamoth	6:23
		2		Deduced to Overkill	Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth	3:16
		3		Chaos Deathcult	Akkerhaugen, Destructor ...	5:59
Composed by: Akkerhaugen, Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth
		4		Storm Detonation	Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth	4:41
		5		Zycloned	Eithun, Trym, Zamoth	5:24
		6		Terrordrome	Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth	3:59
		7		Worm World	Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth	4:15
		8		Transcendental War-Battle Between Gods	Destructor, Eithun, Zamoth	7:19

¡Aquí!

Vintersorg - 1999 - Ödemarkens Son

1. "När alver sina runor sjungit" (When Elves Have Sung Their Runes) – 4:47
2. "Svältvinter" (Winter of Famine) – 4:36
3. "Under norrskenets fallande ljusspel" (Under the Falling Lightplay of the Aurora) – 3:54
4. "Månskensmän" (Men of Moonlight) – 5:46
5. "Ödemarkens son" (Son of the Wilderness) – 5:17
6. "Trollbunden" (Spellbound) – 2:44
7. "Offerbäcken" (The Offering Creek) – 4:29
8. "I den trolska dalens hjärta" (In the Heart of the Trollish Valley) – 5:55
9. "På landet" (On the Country) – 6:35

¡Aquí!

Vintersorg

Vintersorg (pronounced ['vɪntɛr 'sɔrj]; "Winter Sorrow" in English) is a Swedish band from Skellefteå, Sweden, formed in 1994 under the name Vargatron (Wolfthrone in English). Musically, Vintersorg has covered a wide number of heavy metal genres; while the band is mostly rooted in extreme metal styles, particularly black metal and Viking/folk metal, it has also expanded into progressive metal and avant-garde metal. Lyrically, the band deals with topics on fantasy, mythology, nature, the cosmos, and metaphysics. Vintersorg means "Winter Sorrow," but the name was taken from the Isfolket series by Margit Sandemo, where the character Vintersorg is the son of a great pagan leader.

The project was originally formed in 1994 to "push the limits" of black metal music, where the vocals are mostly clean sung, and only a few parts per song that had the traditional screaming vocals. The sound of Vintersorg has vastly changed over the years, as their earlier sound had more of a folk influence, and later on, more of an experimental sound. This transformation was most notably marked with the release of the Cosmic Genesis album, and the change in sound progressed from album to album, with the 2004 album The Focusing Blur being an extremely avant-garde album. The band's vocal elements have changed from album to album as well, starting out with low-pitched, powerful baritone singing, and gradually shifting towards softer, higher-pitched delivery with more use of harmony and layering with black metal vocals. The band's most recent album, Solens rötter, marks a return to the earlier folk metal style, while retaining the more complex and non-traditional guitar arrangements and song structures of later albums.

Along with this change in musical style, the lyrical topics began to shift as well. On earlier albums, the lyrics are all written and performed in Swedish, and dealt with topics of nature and paganism. With the advent of Cosmic Genesis, the lyrics were now written and sung mostly in English, and now dealt with scientific ideas and philosophies such as metaphysics, astronomy, and astrology. In the Cosmic Genesis booklet, Vintersorg extends thanks to Dr. Carl Sagan, author of the book Cosmos. Since, then, the band has alternated between both English and Swedish lyrics, sometimes using both on the same album. In keeping with the band's return return to its folk roots, Solens rötter is also sung entirely in Swedish and deals with more traditional themes.

Vintersorg (aka Andreas Hedlund) is constantly creating music. He is the front-man of several bands including Vintersorg, Otyg, Borknagar, Havayoth, Fission, Cronian and Waterclime.

1999 - Ödemarkens Son

Falkenbach - 1996 - En Their Medh Riki Fara

Falkenbach is the one-man black metal project of multi-instrumentalist Vratyas Vakyas (formerly guitarist with Crimson Gates), who is based in Düsseldorf, Germany, but reportedly hails from Iceland, and subscribes to the genre's more epic style, rife with keyboards, Viking themes, and folk music tendencies (a possible reason for making up those unconfirmed Icelandic roots). Active under the Falkenbach alias since 1995, when no less than three demos suddenly emerged (Laeknishendr, Skinn Av Sverdhi Sol Valtiva, Asynja), Vakyas recorded two albums in 1996's ...En Their Medh Riki Fara and 1997's ...Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri, before turning his attention to his record label Skaldic Art Productions. He finally revived Falkenbach in 2003 and actually drafted other musicians (vocalist Tyrann, guitarist Hagalaz, and drummer Bolthorn) to help out with third album Ok Nefna Tysbar Ty, but he was back to his solo ways by the release of its follow-up, Heralding the Fireblade, in 2005.

¡Aquí!