EIHWAR : "Hugrheim"

 

The Nordic folk duo Eihwar is oddly from France. They have a somewhat poppier take on a style brought to larger audiences by the likes of Wardruna and Heilung. The first two songs carry a great deal of frolic in how the melodies move. For some reason, they are connecting this to electronic music/ dance music, and maybe the scene in France has changed, but a song like "Ein" feels like neo-folk music, just with more emphasis on the percussive elements. The vocals are also very polished and do not have the raw throat quality of singing heard in many of the more pagan minded folk music, with a more liberal use of overdubs. 

Some songs are more like interludes than actual songs, mainly building mood in a cinematic manner. For the purpose of this review, I am not going to count those. The title track has a more deliberate tribal drum, though the melody sounds almost more like Celtic folk. More droning and ritualistic than hooky. The song after this is catchier and works off a more pop-oriented formula, even with the more Viking pulse carried through the background.  "Heil Odinn" has a lighter touch to the melody to counterbalance the more pounding drums. 

"Omenotharena" is the first song that has anything close to a dance beat or electronics. The last song is a more ballad-like version of "Berserkr" which was used as a memorial, so it is more introspective and subdued. Overall, I like what is going on here as they do more service to songs than just getting all the ancient sounds right. I will give it a 9 and see how it grows on me. 

pst16

Heilung : " Futha"

With members spanning Northern Europe... Norway, Germany and Denmark, they pool elements from each country. They use a Iron Age Nose dialect. The instruments they use are primitive things. These primitive things are however recorded with modern technology as a few songs in you begin to hear how modern studio technology enhances them. I  like the chanted groove the vocals create in the last few minutes of the opener, but it seems like there is a great deal of atmosphere that could be trimmed in order to make the most of this song. "Othan" is the first song that brings these sound together in a highly compelling fashion. While Wardruna, is in the neighborhood of what is being done these guys are more atmospheric and darker. At times not a minimal. The vocals stray from using folk tones, as at one point one of the female vocals sounds more like Bjork. 

This alum be great on hallucinogens.There is a surreal flow to "Traust'. It relies on the vocals to really pull it together. progresses they do balance out atmosphere and keep it focused on begin a song. The ritualistic aspects of what they do remain prominent. "Svanrand" is more of a normal song, for what they do. The guttural throat signing set against the lighter female vocal. Drumming provides a backdrop. There are a few "songs" that are really just interludes as they never lock on anything with enough melody to become a real song.Some points in time it reminds me of music from the VVitch. "Elddansurin" locks into more of a groove that will inspire primal dancing. The vocals are a gruff male chant. This eventually has waves of female vocals that wash it away. 

The album closes with a intense 14 minute song. It works off a throat singing chant and drumming.It has a similar pulse, though it ebbs some dynamically. It has more of a drone than a groove. I can see this inducing a trance like state. One drugs it might make some one lose their mind. The monotony of this gets broken up by sung vocals . This  does have the kind of pulse that thumps perhaps not with the same bass as dance music , but it creates the same trance. Or this was how people got in that space in the iron age. With their last album the popularity of this band had a boom and I do not see that waning with this album. I will give this album a 9 as they have created anoither peice of their legacy with no aspirations of selling out. This was released on Season of Mist. r