{"id":20694,"date":"2012-06-28T17:59:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T22:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=20694"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:06:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:06:58","slug":"vintersorg-orkan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/vintersorg-orkan\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintersorg | Orkan<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"After a four-year wait between Solens R\u00f6tter and Jordpuls, the members of Vintersorg\u2014Andreas Hedlund and Mattias Marklund\u2014have returned to a regular, annual album release schedule. Orkan<\/em>, Swedish for \u201churricane,\u201d picks up where its predecessor left off, and though still well done, it would appear quantity has won out over quality in the Vintersorg camp.<\/p>\n

For a new listener, perhaps Orkan<\/em> could be seen as a stellar piece of extreme metal art. Perhaps some long-time fans will even see it that way. But ultimately, what this album lacks is personality. Each of Vintersorg\u2019s previous albums contained a uniqueness that set it apart from the others, yet also fit perfectly into the Vintersorg tapestry. Whether it was the uber-prog-influenced Visions<\/em> from the Spiral Generator<\/em>, or the folk-tinged \u00d6demarkens Son<\/em>, one never knew exactly what to expect with each album, yet was assured it would be epic, melodic, complicated and memorable. Herein lies Orkan\u2019s<\/em> problem\u2014the ingredients are all there, from the layered instrumentation to the alternating harsh and clean vocals, but there\u2019s nothing to differentiate it from previous Vintersorg albums. It almost feels like a paint-by-numbers record\u2014the type of album generally reserved for pop stars and contractual obligations.<\/p>\n

What also helps to keep this album identity-free is the melding of all projects that Mr. V is involved in. Vintersorg, Cronian, Waterclime, Fission and Borknagar slowly seem to be turning into the same thing. The lines between the projects blur more with each release, bringing into question if there\u2019s even a reason to give them different names. Additionally, with so many projects going on concurrently, it seems the songwriting is beginning to suffer. This isn\u2019t to say that Mr. V is out of riffs, or that his best writing days are behind him, but perhaps it\u2019s time to focus on just one project. Or maybe it\u2019s time to take a break and instead work on something totally different, such as the sorely missed folk metal of Otyg.<\/p>\n

So while Orkan<\/em> is a well-executed album by one of metal\u2019s most talented duos, it doesn\u2019t boast a unique identity, something previous Vintersorg (and related albums) have displayed. There really aren\u2019t any standout tracks, but there aren\u2019t any awful tracks either. Everything is very middle-of-the road.
\nBut hey, what band hasn\u2019t had an album like that?<\/p>\n

Genre: Prog, Black, Folk Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nAndreas Hedlund (vocal, guitars, keys, programming, etc)
\nMattias Marklund (guitar)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Istid
\n2. Ur Stj\u00e4rnstoft \u00c4r Vi Komna
\n3. Polarnatten
\n4. Myren
\n5. Orkan
\n6. Havets N\u00e5d
\n7. Norrskenssyner
\n8. Urv\u00e4dersf\u00e5ngen<\/p>\n

Label: Napalm Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/vintersorg<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 6\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz Staff Writer — After a four-year wait between Solens R\u00f6tter and Jordpuls, the members of Vintersorg\u2014Andreas Hedlund and Mattias Marklund\u2014have returned to a regular, annual album release schedule. Orkan, Swedish for \u201churricane,\u201d […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[2942,891],"class_list":{"0":"post-20694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-folk-metal","8":"tag-napalm-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}