VEDERGÄLLNINGEN/VENGEANCE

Garmarna is a great band, Vengeance is an exellent album of modern folk music, mixing traditional sounds with electronics, rock and even drum n bass (which is even more obvious on the Hildegard von Bingen album). But really, this is absolutely not prog , as much as I love this band.

3,5 stars really!

Prog or not prog, who really cares? One thing is pretty sure and that is the fact that GARMANA (which means hell's dog in English) is an excellent newer band coming from Sweden (once again) blending traditional and modern rock/electronic music in a brilliant way. They're using some original medieval instruments like hurdy-gurdy or lute and according to a report I read they must be great on stage with savage looking musicians. The songs on this album here are quite mixed and versatile and range from gentle and slow ballads to more hard rocking ones. The female singer has a very pleasant, a bit innocent and maiden voice. I don't understand any Swedish language but as far as I heard the lyrics are about the usual topics in medieval traditional music like werewolves, abducted virgins,murder,love and so on.

The prog purists might stay away but I'd highly recommend this album to any lover of ethnic fusion and Scandinavian folk music with an open mind!

11th February, 2022: Garmarna - Vedergällninge (nordic folktronica, 1999)

Garmarna were an oddity before they decided to bring electronics into their sound palate, and although there are a couple of teething issues here, the fusion with their already groundbreaking Nordic-folk-meets-pop approach is surprisingly solid. Where these guys succeed are in the melodies, which are no doubt all lifted from the traditional folk playbook. It's fascinating to hear these kinds of pagan melodies sung with guitars and drums, let alone with synths and drum machines, but honestly the only time it isn't completely convincing is in the opening track. It helps, of course, that they've got outstanding vocals, but I've been impressed by the diversity in arrangements here too - they're not just leaning on the Nordic electronica gimmick for the entire album.

7.1 (4th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction