Kvitravn (studio album) by Wardruna

Stunning album, spanning Norwegian Folk and dipping several toes in modern prog. Haunting vocal harmonies make this a very different listen for any prog lovers daring to move into quite different territory.

From Mercury 01/25/2021 21:35

80/100 (For me, a brilliant introduction to Nordic Folk/Dark Tribal Folk. It walks a line between overwhelmingly natural beauty and ominous, unnerving tribal fear excellently.)

I could count the number of Nordic Folk albums on 1 hand. Actually I could count them on one finger. This is it. Outside of video game music from maybe like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, I have never sat down and listened closely to this style of folk music. My thoughts then are somewhat in a vacuum and with next to no context.

This is a very dark, atmospheric almost droning and ominous form of folk music. It was epic as hell at times, but the parts that really made my ears perk up were the bits where almost everything musically dropped out, like the tribal drums stopped, and all you are left with is a droning ambience and a deep, somewhat creepy chanting vocal. That happened several times in this rather long album and each time it somewhat blew me away.

The tribal drums, the dark, buzzing folk, the reverby soundscapes, the wicked sounding harmonies, the feeling of being out in the deep woods at midnight, alone in the oppressive hush but for a somewhat far off tribal ceremony you can hear, all these feelings and sounds are amazing and unique and enthralling.

The production and the arrangements of these pieces are consistently excellent. When the songs get loud and deep they really hit you on a deep level and put you firmly in the space of the music. The sounds are clean where they should be but dirty and murky where they need to be as well to heighten the sense of unease or serene beauty of the music. Its a real trip of an album.

It is somewhat repetitive and as I got past the 35-40 minute mark of the album I will say I started to grow weary of the sounds and the dark atmosphere. On further listens I suspect I will be more engaged throughout but on first listen I did experience an drop off somewhere along the way in my buy-in and enjoyment.

Still, as far as introductions to a whole new vista of sound and expression, this was excellent! If you like tribal, ominous folk music like say Comus, if you like Dark Folk or very immersive music, I think you'll likely love this.