Ásmegin – Arv

Releasedate: 28-11-2008; Label: Napalm Records
By: Elvira Visser

Ásmegin was founded in late 1998 as a Norwegian Viking metal band with the intention to merge traditional romanticism with heavy metal adding folkloric aspects. Tommy Brandt joined the band in the fall of 2001 to play the drums. He brought a new sound to the band and his groovy rock fitted perfectly with the older material from Ásmegin.

Ásmegin is a band that strongly experiments with the Scandinavian folk music. While the band was still evolving they have worked together with many different artists such as Lars Fredrik Frøislie and Lars Nedland. Instruments that were used were fiddle, Norwegian zither, flute and Jew’s harp. These instruments together create the personality and style of the band. The band had some line up changes in their past and more recently Lars Fredrik Frøislie joined the band while recording their new CD. The new album “Arv” took some years to finish and thus the CD contains older material as well as newer compositions. Guest musicians on this album are Anne Marie Hveding and Gunhild Hovden Kvangarsnes on vocals and Karolin Broosch on the violin.

I like the mix of the folkloric music by the violin and the Hammond organ parts mixed with the sweeping metal riffs and grunts. While there is still place for melancholic melodies and clean vocals. The guest appearance of Anne Marie is not much after my liking, I do not like her voice although she does give a folk sounding atmosphere to the track. I must say, though, the ending of the track “Arv” is outstanding. The grunts of Erik Fossan Rasmussen are great and sometimes, when this is combined with black metal reminds me of the Nordic Kampfar. The band knows how to create little breaks with pure folkloric sounds before it bursts out in some great grunts. The layering of the tracks are well arranged. “Gengangeren” starts different with a piano intro and like other tracks, when you close your eyes, you can let your imagination go wild.

Links:
Ásmegin Official