Perhaps it is a sign that we have already entered the twilight of the gods, or perhaps it is not, but the tragic heroes and villains from Norse mythology seem to be all over the place all of a sudden. Neil Gaiman and fantasy authors alike, no doubt, are some of the most likely culprits for the increasing popularity of those ancient myths, but I would like to think that a particular few of those prestigious Norwegian metal outfits that started their journey early in the 1990s are also to blame, what with their inner calling always having been about crafting extreme, yet exciting sonic vignettes inspired by nature, folklore, and spirituality. As it happens, the pantheon of such metal acts got a new member in 2020 when guitarist Arve Isdal of ENSLAVED, drummer Ivar Thormodsæter of ULVER, and Matias Monsen laid down the foundation for a new progressive endeavor under the banner of DROTT. While the music does resonate with the somewhat metal-tinted aura recalling, for instance, those two aforementioned pedigree acts, this new outfit made it clear already on their 2021 debut, “Orcus,” that their music would be inherently hard to label (as if ULVER‘s, let alone ENSLAVED‘s, recent endeavors were any easier to put a label on, mind you). This becomes all the more obvious upon listening to the new studio album, “Troll,” due out on May 19th, 2023, via By Norse Music. Exploring the light within the darkness, this power trio – comprised of drums, guitars, and cello – smoothly incorporate elements from jazz to neo-classical music into their signature progressive sound. I guess you need not even be a diehard fanboy of ULVER or ENSLAVED to instantly fall in love with this magnificent selection, because it is such a fantastic deep dive into dark cinematic prog; if such conduct can be even remotely approximated as your favorite pastime, there is a high chance that you’re going to love this offering.
The album opens with “Troldhaug,” a song that possibly refers to the place where Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg lived and died. The name of the place, Troldhaugen, literally translates into English as “The Troll Hill” and indeed, when the Sabbathian guitar riff drops to the flat fifth, it subtly does evoke the feel of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” albeit slowed-down to an almost doom-metal tempo. All the dark, cinematic flourish adorning the serpentine guitar riffs adds a nice horror-score touch, Matias Monsen‘s cello stabs, in particular. ULVER-meets-ENSLAVED would be quite an apt description of this particular aesthetic – I’m thinking of something like a cross between ULVER‘s haunting 2000 outing, “Perdition City,” and the 2020 masterpiece “Utgard” from the ENSLAVED camp. So, the album sets out on rather good footing, I’d say!
“Allting” keeps up the darkly shaded movie soundtrack vibe, as the chilly, atmospheric synth textures float across the void, like rivers of mist with dissonant guitar stabs cutting through the mist like bursts of fires in the distance; the main riff once again recalls some of Tony Iommi‘s most iconic contributions to heavy metal – and the coda is straight-up the stuff from Hollywood soundtracks. There’s one minor thing to complain about, however: the song clocks in way before the 3-minute mark. I would rather have listened to this moody magnificence a tad longer! In fact, quite a few tracks on the album wrap things up around the standard, radio-friendly single length of the olden days. On the upside, this leaves you craving more.
What initially lured me to check this album out was the song “Våkenatt,” the title of which presumably translates as “vigil.” The atmosphere is very Twin Peaks-like, something akin to Angelo Badalamenti putting on some corpse paint and then blasting out some orchestral Sturm-und-twang – yes, twang, not drang, remember the iconic guitar lines from the show’s theme song! The half-whispered vocals sound like a raven perched on your shoulder, adding to this Twin Peaks vibe rather prominently, so much so, in fact, that you can almost see with your mind’s eye, or by way of some sort of peripheral vision, that the multidimensional villain, Bob, from this iconic TV series is smiling maniacally somewhere in the shadows. I instantly presumed that a band with a knack for this sort of sonic experimentation simply cannot be bland and BOY! was I right!
Next up, “Til Stein” gears up on the somewhat krautrock-vibed ritual music, almost as though ORANSSI PAZUZU were cooling off with a nice, atmospheric, and highly hypnotic sonic incantation. The polyrhythmic mosaic of sounds gallops forward in some esoteric time signature of such caliber that it takes a while to get your head around the meter; yet, despite the fact that the rhythms must have been conjured with the help of some occult linear algebra, it avoids the trappings of sounding artsy for the mere sake of it. Yes, four tracks into the album and I’m sold – and it only gets better! To single out a few outstanding tracks, Monsen‘s ambient cellos really do shine on songs such as “Troll,” “Fornjots Born,” and the mellow album closer, “Natt.” Then, “Solskodde” is perhaps the absolute pinnacle in terms of film-score-like ambiance, with the approach almost resonating with the air of David Sylvian‘s haunting 1989 ambient album “Flux + Mutability.”
As far as I know, the world of Norse mythology is a chilly place, one wherein the winter never seems to end. So, it kind of figures that “Troll” pretty quickly comes off as a fine album to put on in the dead of winter, under the glow of the northern lights perhaps, or by candlelight, where the mist burns into light at the edge of the flame. The release date is set in May, which leaves me wondering whether this album will get much playtime during the summer months – but when the winter comes along, I’m sure that this will be one of my go-to albums!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Troldhaug
- Allting
- Våkenatt
- Til Stein
- Det Ser
- Solskodde
- Mara
- Troll
- Nattas Blot
- Sabbat
- Fornjots Born
- Grotten
- Natt
Lineup
Arve Isdal – guitars
Ivar Thormodsæter – drums
Matias Monsen – cello
with guests:
Kristian Espedal – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, and 11
Linday Fay Hella – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 6, 10, and 11
Herbrand Larsen – vocals on track 9
Label
By Norse Music
