Album Review: Månegarm - Ynglingaättens Öde
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Despite having been going for over twenty five years, Sweden’s Månegarm aren’t an oft mentioned and overlooked name in folk metal despite being one of the best bands in the genre. With the release of their tenth album Ynglingaättens Öde, the prove exactly why they are the unsung heroes of Swedish folk metal.
The band are a three piece made up of Erik Grawsiö on vocals and bass, long standing guitarist Markus Andé (who has performed on every Månegarm album) and Jacob Hallegren filling the drum stool. Månegarm don’t fall into the alcohol fuelled party folk metal that the genre is generally known for instead having a sound that sits snugly between the epic and rousing and the vicious black metal influenced sides of the genre. Add a smattering of traditional folk instrumentation and some acoustically led parts and you have the core Månegarm sound.
The opening song on the album Freyrs Blod is the perfect example of this mixing black metal fury, rousing folk melodies and epic vocals into one huge ten minute epic. Adils Fall utilises some fine folk melodies performed on a violin whilst En Snara Av Guld is one of the most melodic songs on the album moving at a gentle pace with tremendous vocals from both Erik Grawsiö and his daughter Lea Grawsiö Lindström. Auns Söner and Vitta Vettr are the most black metal songs on the album with filthy and evil sounding riffa driving the songs but also incorporating a healthy use of melody and a nice mix of harsh and clean vocals. The album comes to a close with the beautiful acoustic song Hågkomst Av Ett Liv which has some stunning vocal interplay between guest singer Ellinor Videfors and Erik Grawsiö.
Ynglingaättens Öde is another in a line of strong albums from Månegarm which perfectly balances the majestic and aggressive sounds of the folk metal genre. The melodies are rousing, the music powerful and the vocals impressive with Erik Grawsiö demonstrating a fine clean singing voice as well as a gnarly guttural harsh vocal style. If you like your folk metal then Månegarm should really be a band regularly on your playlist but if you are new to this band then Ynglingaättens Öde is a great starting point.
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