The Icelandic Viking force Skalmold returns with their 4th álbum “Vögguvísur Yggdrasils”. The album speaks about the 9 worlds of Nordic mythology, and along with it, the band proves that they are one of the standards of the genre, creating great riffs with a melodic folk line, but what really distinguish them from the others, is the lyrics in Icelandic.
Songs like “Niflheimur”, “Niðavellir”, “Miðgarður”, “Útgarður”, “Álfheimur”, “Ásgarður”, and “Helheimur”, shows a matured band that can compose great moments around a concept, without getting boring, thanks to their robust sound, with epic parts here and there.
The listener will find out that the record is not over produced, but also it’s not that heavy as the previous one. Still, the listener will find it quite interesting, this travel through the9 worlds proposed by the Icelandic metal force. There is also a second record with some interesting covers and live versions, from where it stands out “Innímérsyngurvitleysingur” (SigurRós cover), “Lazer Eyes” (Thor cover), “Upprisa” (live), “Hefnd” (live), and the original “Helreiðafa”.
Skalmold’s approach to pagan metal with a folk ambient attached to it, melodic at times, extreme at others, it’s something that they’ve balanced really well on this one, and with this album they’ve establish their soundwith those characteristics, something that it’s rare in these days, to be instantly known by the sound, and that was their great victory in here.
Even if the listener don’t known Icelandic (I sure don’t), he will find himself trying to sing some parts of this record with a fist in the air. Þráinn Árni Baldvinsson, Björgvin Sigurðsson, and Baldur Ragnarsson, did once again a great job on guitars, proving that these axes are well sharped for more incoming fights on stage.