SKYMNINGSDALEN

It was certainly good news to discover that THOBY LOTH did release a follow up to the excellent 2012 album "Cauldron of Life", 5 years later, even if the album entry only appeared in the last hour, thank you projeKct for bailing me out of the persecution complex I had been nurturing for a couple of hours before that.

Unfortunately, in positive terms, that's about it. Even compared to the band's 2009 debut, this is a weak effort, almost like a pastiche of faux medieval themes that could have been cobbled together by someone with no knowledge of Tolkien who was charged with writing a soundtrack to that author's work, or perhaps one of his rivals trying to even an old score. Even the presence of an odd orchestra of mostly wind instruments barely moves the needle. "Cauldron of Life" seethed with a deep woods urgency wholly lacking throughout this thankfully brief release.

At least 2 of these tracks date to the time period of the DVD released around the same time as the first album, so it's quite possible that there just weren't enough new ideas. It's also conceivable that the most inspired of those in leader Tobias Tåg's head were implemented in his EP offered around the same time as "Skymningsdalen". That could be the other bit of good news. To be continued...