NYDVIND – Sworn to the Elders CD
Trollzorn Records
Sooner or later if you listen to alot of extreme music you succumb to the new band playing well traveled genre burnout. It happens and if you’re lucky to catch it in its early stages, like I have, then you won’t turn into a full blown smiling eunuch music snob. Take this band for example who hail from France and play Nordic sounding pagan/folk metal. The first time I played this release I thought it was decent. The second time, by the halfway mark, I wanted to reach for something more traditionally Nordic. I don’t blame the band. I blame the genre that has become bloated with anyone can do it from anywhere type bands. In my not so humble opinion music that has a true sense of tradition should be performed by people from that area of the world. The further away you are from that region of the world the less authenticity and appeal you have. For example, if some band from Africa wants to play Viking metal that’s fine but you’d be hard pressed to convince me that you’re not jumping on the genre bandwagon. You’d be better off sticking with your homegrown influences like cannibalism, slavery, hunting elephants and buttfucking monkeys.
Now getting back to this French band, to their credit NYDVIND hit all basic genre buttons. They have epic songs from the shadier areas of the forest with black metal vocal screams as well as clean vocals by the warrior chorus choir. Some cuts go on far too long but that’s part of the process. Musically it’s classic sounding stuff with hints of a mythical historical background but I doubt these four guys were kidnapped at birth from Norway and transported in Gaul. When I listen to a song on here like “Icewinds Unleashed” I’m thinking a cold snap killed off half the wine crop and not what they probably had in mind. Then there’s “Nordic Dawn” which is a decent attempt at copying KAMPFAR but in reality it’s probably a cold morning in Paris.
www.trollzorn.de/
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