Stormfågel – Eldvakt.

• Label: Steinklang Industries.
• Year: 2010.
• Style: Martial Industrial / Neofolk / Folk.
• Format: CD.

And there it is! “Eldvakt”! After years of delay. It took for STORMFÅGEL to cut the deal with Cold Meat Industry and sign to Steinklang Industries to get their third album out. Quite an effort. Was is worth it?
It is for sure a strong release. Andreas N. is getting quite secure in what he does, and “Eldvakt” might be the most accessible, defined album yet.
It ventures into a, might I say poppy, reign. It has more of a sing-along and stomp-the-foot feeling to it, and some of these drum patterns might invite some of you weak spirited titlings to a dance, I can imagine! But the cool dudes like myself, we feel the heavy pounding kettles and march around the room in secrecy with the socks flying all over. “Eldvakt” displays, in other words, both martial and danceable drumming in a comfortable mix. I like to think of it as something in between LEGER DES HEILS and BLOOD AXIS (pre 2001).

It’s also quite diverse lyrically. Swedish poems, folk songs, samples and bitter monologues is what to expect. Personally, I prefer the Swedish songs. Not only because they are very nice finds and texts, but it also seems that the Swedish songs are the most well-worked ones, even musically.
It all begins with “Håll Lågan Klar”, one of the most disgusting socialist poems I’ve come across. I just took a shower and I’m drinking locally produced cola, but still I can’t help but feeling dirty when I hear Andreas utter those hateful, despiteful words. It was written back in 1910 by some herr Gustafsson and it’s the kind of text that, if written today, can put someone behind bars for planning a school massacre or something. It’s not very well-known though, so a translation might be impossible to find. Too bad. Too good maybe. I also admire the fitting, bitter tone over this track and Andreas reads with passion.
The second track is also in my native tongue. “Den Bergtagna” tells the classic tale of the girl who ventures into the woods and ends up in bad company with the “Bergakung” – the Mountain King. Like always, a fascinating story that never gets old, even though it can be traced back to the early 1800’s. Here it’s sung with crystal clear vocals, performed by a female but she’s not Eva (STORMFÅGEL’s regular vocal contributor). The melody is typical for Swedish folk music and it’s backed up by a pulsating keyboard, eager drums and choirs. Magnificent track!

My next stop is “My Sängmö”. I don’t know anything about the origins of this horrible tale, but I like it. The track also feature a quite lush instrumentation, ranging from piano to bells to cello and violin, percussion, cymbals and lute. You might enjoy this without knowledge in Swedish – it’s the best track on the disc.

I must also praise “Ny Nord” properly, for being such a suspenseful track full of drones and “kulning” (traditional falsetto singing used to call the kettle in) and for being one of the most beautiful portraits of our country ever. I’m actually not much for nationalist poetry but Karlfeldt nailed it. I also melt when the track reaches the middle and explodes in a most delightful Swedish traditional folk tune on nyckelharpa. It made my folk dancing friend to go crazy all on his own, which is a good score. It’s not very uplifting, though, and just when you’ve had just about enough of groaning and misery, the outro kicks in with a sample from Ingmar Bergman’s movie “The Magician” (“Ansiktet” in Swedish) and ties this sack of woe together with some of the most nasty words of self-hatred ugliness ever written…

These are the Swedish tracks on “Eldvakt”, and also my favourites. In between them, there are plenty of old-fashioned STORMFÅGEL organs and deep, dark, echoed vocals and if you enjoy the earlier works, this will tickle you on that special spot.
Yes. It’s by all means a strong release, better than I hoped for and better than I thought it would be. STORMFÅGEL should hereby be considered one of the most important acts in the martial industrial genre.