So what if a band from Denmark mixed the happy go drinking folkish pep of Korpiklaani and the earthy, battle weary death metal heft of Amon Amarth or the first Amorphis album? You’d get Svartsot and their simple but thoroughly enjoyable debut album.
With a mix of simple, mid paced chunky death metal, deep cavernous growls (no clean vocals at all here) with a Viking hues backed by sprightly flute and bodhran drum, Svartsot deliver 11 tracks (some reworked from the bands two demos) of likeable yet heavier than usual folk metal that should tide you over until Asmegin get their act together.
Much like Korpiklaani, Svartsot aren’t about complexity or skill but rather catchy and smile inducing moments of down tuned campiness, sometimes bordering a Finntroll like canter (especially closer “Havets Plage”) with a more death metal veneer. The riffs are admittedly repetitive within the songs, but no less effective smile inducing as tracks like “Nidvisen”, “Jotunheimsfærden”, “Festen”, “Skovens Kælling” and personal favourites “Spillemandens Dåse” and “Skønne Møer” rumble and jig with mirth and ale aplomb while a couple of slower ominous tracks like “Bersærkergang” and “Hedens Døtre” are moodier and more tempered in their Viking meets folk gait.
Ravnenes Saga is hardly reinventing Viking metal or folk metal, but it does offer an immensely entertaining record that combines the frivolity of folk metal with the bit bite and girth of death metal into one solid, enjoyable release.
